Vermont announces new steps towards electric transportation

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NO MORE GAS CARS: Vermont is currently bound in statute to follow California’s version of the Clean Air Act, which means gas-powered cars are scheduled to be phased out.

During Thanksgiving, as Vermonters faced record-high travel and fuel costs, the state announced two steps to nudge Vermonters out of gas-powered cars and into electric vehicles.

The two policies in focus are the Advanced Clean Cars (ACC) II program and the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) regulation. The Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules held a hearing on Thursday for final review of the rules, and formally approved both policies. The rules won’t go into effect until California policy changes, as is expected on Nov 30.

The mandates will be placed at the manufacturer and at the retail level.

With the ACT rule, manufacturers will need to make and sell more zero-emission trucks and busses each year, starting in 2025 and going through 2035. California, Washington, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Vermont have signed on to the rule.

The ACC II program promotes electric light-duty cars and also requires automakers to produce an increasing number of zero-emission vehicles for the Vermont market, with the goal of reaching 100 percent EV sales by 2035.

In a press release from the Vermont chapter of the Sierra Club, numerous supporters offered praise for the new development.

“Toxic pollution from cars and trucks overheats the earth and clogs the air in our communities,” said Conservation Law Foundation staff attorney Chase Whiting. “These new rules will help us tackle the climate crisis while cleaning up the air for people and families in Vermont. This is truly a win-win, and it’s a huge step forward towards our clean energy future.”

Johanna Miller, Energy & Climate program director at the Vermont Natural Resources Council and co-lead of the Transportation Task Group of the Vermont Climate Council, said, “These rules will ensure that cleaner, more affordable and efficient cars, and trucks are delivered to Vermont and made more widely available to all Vermonters.”

Ben Edgerly Walsh, Climate and Energy program director with the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, said the rules were “a critical step in our state’s transition to a zero-emission future.”

“Car companies are beginning to make EVs in greater numbers, but without rules like these requiring that those vehicles are delivered to Vermont, Vermonters could easily be left behind in this transition to cleaner vehicles that are cheaper to own and operate than their fossil-fueled predecessors,” Edgerly Walsh said.

Elsewhere, states like Minnesota that originally agreed to follow California’s vehicle emissions standards have expressed interest in backing out on banning gas vehicles

“I think Minnesota is going to go its own path,” Minnesota state Rep. Jamie Long, a Democrat, told MinnPost in September.

Also in September, Fox 9 in Minneapolis reported that Gov. Tim Walz said in public statements that Minnesota has “no plans to implement a California-style ban.

“Minnesota is not southern California,” Minnesota Auto Dealers Association President Scott Lambert said in an interview with Fox Business. “We’re certainly not trying to bash electric vehicles. But the fact is that their battery is reduced by about 40% in cold, cold weather.”

Michael Bielawski is a reporter for True North. Send him news tips at bielawski82@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @TrueNorthMikeB.

Image courtesy of Public domain

30 thoughts on “Vermont announces new steps towards electric transportation

  1. If you have not noticed, there has been near-zero wind and solar electricity from 1:00 am to about 9 am, on November 30, 2022, in New England.
    I verified it by checking the ISO-NE Dashboard, Resource Mix Graph, in the morning.
    https://www.iso-ne.com/isoexpress/web/charts

    What would power all these future heat pumps and EVs?

    Resource/energy-poor Europe’s insanity of doing without plentiful LOW-COST Russian energy, and relying on the very the expensive, unreliable, weather-dependent, wind/solar/battery trio, was on display big time in 2021, well before the Ukraine events, and in 2022, and will be keenly felt during the 2022/2023 winter, and future winters for at least the next 4 to 5 years.

    Resource/energy-rich US should learn a lesson from Europe’s wind/solar/battery folly, instead of blindly following the Biden dead-end, wind/solar/battery fantasy, by wasting a lot of money, that would be better spent on 100 new, zero-CO2 nuclear plants to reliably power future heat pumps and EVs
    https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-biden-administration-s-offshore-wind-fantasy

  2. Volkswagen Says EV Battery Plants “Practically Unviable” In EU Due To Soaring Energy Costs
    https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/volkswagen-says-ev-battery-plants-practically-unviable-in-eu-due

    The inconvenient truth is the 8-yr CO2 emissions of a high-efficiency gasoline vehicle that gets 35 mpg, per EPA, is about the same as of an EV with a 75 kWh battery (about the minimum required in cold New England climates), with an annual average of 0.32 kWh/mile, if one considers the:

    1) upstream CO2 from mining, ore refining, transport, battery pack assembly, vehicle assembly, transport to user.
    2) driving CO2, which depends on the New England grid slowly having less CO2/kWh
    3) disposal CO2, which would include hazardous waste disposal of at least the batteries of EVs

    Would battery disposal be in Vermont, or would batteries be shipped to another state for disposal?

    The service life of an EV battery is at most 8 years

    The replacement cost of a 75 kWh battery is at least $15,000 to $20,000, including labor, with near-zero likelihood of the cost decreasing, because of high materials costs and general inflation.
     
    No one with any sanity would put a new battery in an 8-y old EV

    Therefore, all EV and gasoline vehicle comparisons must be based on 8 years, even though the life of gasoline vehicles is at least 11 years.

    Also, EVs are driven about 9000 miles/y, whereas gasoline vehicles are driven about 12000 miles per year

    Therefore, all EV and gasoline vehicle comparisons must be based on 8y x 9000 miles/y = 72,000 miles, which would make it very difficult for an E?V to have less LIFETIME CO2 than a 35 gpm gasoline vehicle.

    If you have not noticed, there has been near-zero wind and solar electricity since 1:00 am, on November 30, 2022; I was up several times during the night.

    What would power all these heat pumps and EVs?

    Resource/energy-poor Europe’s insanity of doing without plentiful LOW-COST Russian energy, and relying on the very the expensive, unreliable, weather-dependent, wind/solar/battery trio, was on display big time in 2021, well before the Ukraine events, and in 2022, and will be keenly felt during the 2022/2023 winter, and future winters for at least the next 4 to 5 years.

    Resource/energy-rich US should learn a lesson from Europe’s wind/solar/battery folly, instead of blindly following the Biden’s dead-end, wind/solar/battery fantasy, by wasting a lot of money, that would be better spent on 100 new, zero-CO2 nuclear plants
    https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-biden-administration-s-offshore-wind-fantasy

  3. Solar an Unreliable Nothing-burger in the UK in Winter, and in New England
    https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/solar-an-unreliable-nothing-burger-in-the-winter-in-the-uk-as-it ;
    Francis Menton

    The Zero-Carbon folks have no idea how an electrical system works.
    They are demanding an expensive, highly subsidized wind/solar/battery replacement of fossil fuels that has zero chance of success, as was shown in Europe in 2021, well before the Ukraine situation, and in 2022.
    It’s only a question of when, and how big, will be the failure, and how damaging the consequences of the failure will be.

    Paul Homewood posted on his website “Not A Lot Of People Know That”, an article titled  “Why Solar Power Is Useless In Winter.”

    Homewood obtained the hourly data on electricity generation from UK solar panels from this website.

    For context, the typical electricity usage in the UK at this time of year is given by Homewood as 840 GWh, or 840/24 = 35 GWh for each hour of the day; some hours are less and others are more, depending on the daily demand.

    The capacity of the solar generation facilities in the UK is given as 14 GW, as AC.

    If the solar systems produced at full capacity for the 24 hours, they would have produced 14 x 24 = 336 GWh, or 336/840 = 40% of the UK’s typical usage for the day.

    But hey, it’s late November.

    The days are short, and the UK has lots of clouds, and often there is snow on the panels
    So how much did the solar facilities actually produce today?

    Here is the chart:

    Open the URL to see the chart

    The peak output of the solar panels was about 1.33 GW — less than 1.33/35 = 4% of the 35 GWh hourly average

    Production from the solar panels (the area under the curve) was 5.46 GWh, or 5.46/840 = 0.65% of 840 GWh usage of the day.

    The times of peak electricity demand are the early morning and late-afternoon/early-evening.
    At those times the UK’s solar panels produced absolutely nothing.
    In fact, they produced absolutely nothing from 4 pm to 8 am the next day; for 16 hours!!

    So, how is the UK (or anyplace else) ever going to obtain a meaningful amount of its electricity in winter from solar panels?

    Well, considering just today, the UK could have built 840/5.46 = 154 times as many solar panels as the UK currently has.
    Under the wind/solar/battery trio, favored by zero-carbon folks, the UK could have obtained the exact amount of electricity the UK consumed today, 840 GWh from solar, if winds had been near-zero, as often happens during a UK winter (and an NE winter)

    However, almost all of that solar electricity would be at midday, when it was not needed
    There would be near-zero solar electricity during the morning peak, 6-8 AM, and during the evening peak, 5-8 PM.

    To cover those peak periods, the UK would need a lot of energy storage.
    Hundreds of GWh of storage would be needed just for this one day.
    One GWh = one million kWh
    The noon-time solar would be stored, and partially released during the evening peak, with the rest released during the morning peak of the next day.
    That roundtrip procedure involves about 18 to 20% of losses, on an A-to-Z basis. See below.

    What About Seasonal Variations?

    You could save the electricity from the summer time, when there is more sun.
    But for that, to cover the whole winter, tens of thousands of GWh of storage would be required, just for the UK.
    Solar electricity would be stored for about 5 or 6 months, and released during the winter months, as needed by demand.

    All-in, Turnkey Capital Cost of 1000 GWh of Li-ion Battery Systems

    Instead of tens of thousands of GWh, we will determine the cost of battery systems rated at 1000 GWh, delivered as AC at battery voltage

    On an everyday basis, batteries should not be discharged to less than 20% full and not be charged to more than 80% full, to achieve 15-y useful service life.
    On rare occasions, such a rare long-distance driving, in case of EVs, discharging and charging is OK from 10% to 90%
     
    Battery system rated capacity would be
    1000 GWh/0.6, available capacity factor = 1666 million kWh, delivered as AC at battery voltage
     
    All-in, turnkey, capital cost of Li-ion battery systems would be
    1666 million kWh x $400/kWh/$1000000000 = $666 billion; most of it would need to be replaced every 15 years. See Note

    NOTE: The rated capacity of the Moss Landing, California, Tesla battery system, owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Company, is 300 MW/1200 MWh
    The all-in, turnkey, capital cost was $370 million, or $370 million/1200000 kWh =  $308/kWh, delivered as AC at battery voltage; 2018 pricing
    The 2018 pricing has increased at least 30% to $400/kWh in 2022. See Appendix

    NOTE:
    Li-ion battery systems have a loss of about 18%, when new, and about 20%, when older, on an A-to-Z basis

    We will look at the round-trip loss of a new, 1 GWh battery system

    Delivered by battery system is 1 GWh, as AC to high voltage grid
    Charge in battery system is 1 GWh/0.92 = 1.087 GWh, as DC
    Electricity to battery system is 1.087/0.92 = 1.181 GWh, as AC from high voltage grid
    The 0.181 GWh round-trip loss has to be produced by additional solar panels, or other generators, if they were still present!!

    NOTE: Remember, all of this solar fantasy to “save the planet”, including huge-capacity battery systems, and hugely expanded electric grids, is highly subsidized with ratepayer and taxpayer money, to provide tax shelters to line the pockets of the world’s, well-connected, high rollers, who often have private planes, and private yachts, and mega mansions, and God knows what else.

  4. There is only one type of government that tells their citizens what kind of cars they MUST drive. A Communist government.

  5. The prophecy of converting to electric vehicles in next few decades is not going to occur for so many different reasons. You have to be insane to believe it will happen. History and economics should have taught us by now that we do not need to be dependent on other countries for our resources. We need to rebuild the electric grid from the ground up to even make it feasible. We need to think about this challenge with logic and planning, not being impulsive just to feel good.

  6. The inconvenient truth is the 8-yr CO2 emissions of a high-efficiency gasoline vehicle that gets 35 mpg, per EPA, is about the same as of an EV with a 75 kWh battery (about the minimum required in a cold climate), with an annual average of 0.32 kWh/mile, if one considers the:

    1) upstream CO2

    2) driving CO2 (which depends on the New England grid slowly having less CO2/kWh

    3) disposal CO2, which would include hazardous disposal of at least the batteries of EVs

    Would battery disposal be in Vermont, or would batteries be shipped to another state for disposal?

    • Heck no….it is human nature (follow the money). If their lithium battery has dies, will they pay perhaps hundreds of dollars (or more) to dispose safely or ship out of state….or will those with land just bury them in the woods (yup)…or those without land will just throw them by the in the dark of night… They aren’t that big.

      • I meant to say they will just throw dead lithium batteries by the roadside (it’s free) in the dead of night . Worse yet? They can throw them in a river at night! Or, those with a boat will just dump them in a lake…..I think Lake Champlain is an IDEAL disposal place…it has so much easy boat access….Lake Champlain would be an ideal “dumping ground” for lithium….But, WHAT happens when they leak in Champlain? Of course…liberals will always, somehow – BLAME FARMERS 🙂

    • The service life of an EV battery is at most 8 years

      The replacement cost of a 75 kWh battery is at least $15,000 to $20,000, including labor, with near-zero likelihood of the cost decreasing, because of high materials costs and general inflation

      No one with any sanity would put a new battery in an 8-y old EV

      All EV and gasoline vehicle comparisons must be based on 8 years, even though the life of gasoline vehicles is at least 11 years

      • If you have not noticed, there has been near-zero wind and solar electricity since 1:00 am, on November 30, 2022; I was up several times during the night.

        What would power all these heat pumps and EVs?

        Resource-and-energy-poor Europe’s insanity of doing without plentiful LOW-COST Russian energy, and relying on the very the expensive, unreliable, weather-dependent, wind/solar/battery trio, is on display big time, and will be keenly felt during this and future winters for at least the next 4 to 5 years.

        Resource-and-energy-rich US should learn a lesson from Europe’s folly, instead of blindly following the dead-end, wind/solar/battery scenario

      • So these wonderful vehicles are just throw away items when the batteries die! You can expect that even virtue signaling liberals will dump the battery over paying for it’s proper disposal, only the most honest will comply.

    • Where does this giant increase in electric power demand come from !?!?!?!

      Well, Electricity “comes from the outlet – dumby”

  7. Perhaps we need to look at how much the State of Vermont and the people pushing this have invested in the green companies? Nancy Pelosi and likely Peter Welch, cleaned up bigly on investments right before Congress pushed through the Greentard New Deal. It’s about green in their pockets, none in ours. Follow the money!

  8. So much for the once cherished INDEPENDENT Vermont mind – another lost legacy. We follow FAILING CA in policy? Our loser dem and prog leaders can’t think for themselves? We follow the policies of a state that ranks # 5 in resident exodus’. The dems and progs are setting VT up for FAILURE. If we don’t get to certain emissions status – which we cannot do because the infrastructure is not there, nor is the workforce to create said infrastructure – then we can be sued, by anyone? UNREAL. Please make sure you are writing these fools and letting them know that you know they are ruining this state.. https://vermontbiz.com/news/2022/march/03/roper-climate-plan-all-pain-no-gain https://www.ethanallen.org/a_potentially_deadly_consequence_of_the_clean_heat_standard-

  9. …there will never be enough electricity in 2035 for all of VT on EV cars. unless you bring backj nuclear plants
    ,…When EV batteries die they can cost many, many thousands $ to replace
    …..Lithium for batteries is ALREADY in very short supply, where will it all come from in 2035?
    …tio get anywhere near the amount of electricty, reneable for sure, by 2035…I’d guess you will have to consume about 50% of VT’s open fields and land with solar panels. Bye Bye toiurism. VT is now “The Solar Panel State”.
    ….where will all te charging stations be?
    …what happens when gas stations are out of business…tourists w/ reguilar cars may get here, but they will not be able to return home…their gas tank is empty and no gas sold in VT.
    ….EV cars and batteries are NOT RELIABLE at 5 below, 10 below and 20 below zero. they drain rapidly.
    …It is documented Lithium batteries can blow up and catch fire, and a lithium fire is near impossible to put out.
    ….IDIOT Ernviros are already pushing for EV SCHOOL BUSSES…and it’s battery runs under the legnth of the bus. If one school bus lithium battery explodes, so will the children on it.
    …As gas sales taxes are halted (no gas sold)….HOW will VT tax electric cars then? WHO will pay for road maintainemce? EV cars ARE ALREADY CHEATING AND NOT PAYING ANY road taxes …liberals all…LOVE free stuff).

    All in all? VT is increasingly insane. Get out of VT now….while you can .

    • Talk about unsustainable which they accuse oil of being, lithium, cobalt, copper, and other minerals that about 500,000 lbs per battery are required will run out before they ever reach 50% of all vehicles. That on top of raising the cost of other needed items which use the same minerals. To show the stupidity of government the congress was voting on more mining restrictions the same day they were pushing for more battery powered cars. The climate hoax has rotted the brains of them and the sheep voters who can’t think for themselves. Just like the covid failure, it will become a failure of epic proportions, supported and pushed by the stupidest of the stupid which apparently have no thoughts on the toxicity that will poison the planet…

  10. Wonder where the transportation budget revenues will come from? Will they put a meter on your
    charging stations to collect fees? Perhaps there will be new annual auto luxury tax for anyone who owns a vehicle. Maybe they will add another fee increase to our license renewals. Maybe we just let the roads return to dirt and won’t have to use fossil fuels to pave and repave. So many opportunities in front of us. But don’t worry as I am sure California will lead our way. We are in good hands.

    • Deborah my issue with this entire thing is that we are free people.
      If we don’t want one of these cars we have the right to make that choice.
      And the next issue is the use of tax dollars to fund something that the overwhelming majority are not going to do..

      Good ideas don’t need this amount of “persuasion”.. we all know the market just runs and explodes with vigor when the people want something.. this is not going on with this at all.
      Forcing us, then stealing our money to fund what we don’t want.. what is this all saying? and what are the Republicans doing about what it says?

      THIS is what the real point here should be.. not about charging stations etc.
      This is a loss of freedom and then a robbery by the government that we are supposed to be in control of.

  11. “The rules won’t go into effect until California policy changes, as is expected on Nov 30.”
    Are we supposed to be3 California’s lap dog?

  12. I posted this in a earlier reply to Don Keelan on forced EV’s in VT. It is worth posting again here. Forced EV’s are insane for VT…they don’t work well in sub zero temps….there are hugely expensive to replace and the lithium can catch on fire….and there will NEVER be enough electricity…and cost of it will skyrocket.. and it WILL DESTROY all out of state tourism…no gas stations will be left in VT if all cars forced EV,…tourists may GET here fine…but they can’t get gas to get home!

    “It is astounding Liberal Lunacy. What are they thinking? if VT mandates all cars in VT are VT, or new ones, WHAT HAPPENS? All the GAS staions go out of business, save a few…but they will barely survive with the collapsed revenue. What happens next? Not ALL states will force and mandate EV cars. Think! The largest industry in VT is TOURISM:

    “Tourism is one of the largest industries in Vermont, as the state welcomes over 13 million visitors each year. These visitors account for $3.0 billion in annual spending on lodging, food and drink, goods and services.”

    Get that? $3 BILLION. So what happens if tourism is HALTED….because out of state tourists can’t get GAS for their cars to visit VT and return home safely. Say “Buh-Bye” to $3 billion tourism, ski areas, Hotels, B&B’s, restuarnts, bars, shopping….NAME IT. GONE. Thnink of how many people are employed via tourist $$$ related spending….now they all get laid off…shops are in trouble….hotels close , B&B’s close down…unemployment goes UP.

    What on earth are these idiots thinkng?

  13. There is no such thing as zero ommission EV vehicle! This is propaganda with no factual basis. The emissions is being created when the electricity is created and during the mining and manufacturing of the materials to make EV batteries.

    • It’s very evident after the last election that Vermont is the propaganda state. An uninformed voting population is the ruination of Vermont. Out of state money fuels the censorship and misinformation fed to the public by Vermont media. None are so blind as those who refuse to see.

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