Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
France and the United Kingdom are doing it, and maybe China too. And now it's possible California could also ban the sale of new vehicles powered with internal combustion engines.
"Given the existential challenge we face, the administration is looking at many, many possible measures – including additional action on electric vehicles – to help rapidly decarbonize the economy and protect the health of our citizens," California Air Resources Board spokesman, Dave Clegern, said on behalf of Governor Jerry Brown's office.
Earlier this week, ARB chief Mary Nichols told Bloomberg news that the governor has been asking her why California isn't phasing out fossil-fuel vehicles when China has said it will as soon as 2030. Governor Brown met with Chinese president Xi Jinping earlier this year about speeding up the adoption of electric vehicles to help offset climate change.
Rapid adoption of electric vehicles is a critical goal for California as it seeks to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. For the state to stay on track, California will need to replace combustion with renewables no later than 2050, Nichols told Bloomberg, adding that the earliest California would ban gas- and diesel-powered cars would be ten years from now.