Not a “ban” as the headline indicates, but “encouraging” people and businesses to shun EVs. I would suspect auto sales in Wyoming are trivial, but what if this catches on in other oil and gas states? What if “sense of the legislature” bills morph into laws, either banning or taxing EVs out of the market in those states? What if EVs become a “woke” issue?
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The easiest way to put the kibosh on EVs in large oil states (WY, TX, etc.) is to limit the number of public charging stations. This will turn any electric car into a limited town-only car since the distances in these states are longer than the range of an EV battery.
Wendy
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I posted an article from the evening news, several weeks ago, about how easy it was to make a trip in an EV in California, vs how problematic a trip of equal length is in Texas, due to the lack of charging stations. People who see an income opportunity in offering an EV charging point would be a constant source of irritation for Texas. It would be more direct to heavily tax EVs. Michigan imposed a surcharge on EVs a few years ago, saying the surcharge was justified because EVs cause wear on roads, but don’t pay fuel tax to maintain the roads.
Texas has a relatively low gas tax of 20 cents/gallon. The average Texan drives 14,510 miles per year. Assume the average Texan drives an F-150. F-150 combined city/highway mileage ranges, depending on powertrain, from 12 to 25mpg. Take the average 16.5mpg. That works out to 879 gallons/year and just under $176 in fuel tax. Not nearly enough to impress an EV owner. So, just make it punitive, because, as Wyoming is saying, “jobs”, and add a $3,000/year surcharge.
Steve
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Except that Tesla already has much of the country covered and there are very few places that have more than ~100 miles between chargers, at least on the interstates. There are people who are tracking the biggest interstate gaps and reporting every time a big gap is split with a new charging stations
The list is dwindling quickly and they are now looking at adding more than interstates because there is so little to track.
Mike
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You mean like gas stoves or what ever newest ideology? Bottom line, people eventually vote with their pocket books. A product/idea is either good and benefits them* or not. They can either afford it or not.
While I’ve never traveled through Wyoming but have Montana, I don’t imagine outside of a couple of cities/towns where the population is big enough or dense enough to warrant much investment in EVs. Horses probably still make a lot of sense.
*benefit isn’t just $$$ there are emotional factors that people weigh
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“Wyoming Moves To Ban Sales Of New Electric Vehicles By 2035”
This is more BS performative politics. It’s primarily meant to rile up the people to get some of them to vote for you. The signs are an absurd premise, a very narrow issue (if even a real issue at all), and a faraway date such that the issue likely won’t even exist anymore at the time.
Next up, legislation banning bringing samples back from planets inhabited by sentient beings in other solar systems beginning in 2050.
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I recall, several years ago, when Federal energy efficiency standards for light bulbs were raised to a level that incandescent bulbs could not reach There was a push in Texas to get a light bulb company to build a plant in Texas, to make incandescent bulbs, only for sale in Texas, as, by not shipping the bulbs across state lines, they were immune from Federal regs. The advocates of the move could not find a company that was interested.
This sort of reactionary nonsense is getting louder and louder. There is a push in the House in DC to revoke the ban on smoking in the Capital building, that has been in force for years. We have seen the arm-hijab dress code, that I first ran into at work maybe 15 years ago.
To pick one industry, the auto industry, what is management going to do? If they transition to EVs, as Ford and GM talk about, will they find themselves defacto barred from states that favor the oil and gas industry? If they stay with ICE vehicles, they will see their product banned from states that want to transition to EVs, like California. The companies can’t afford to continuously develop both platforms.
Steve
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Ford has already ceased new development of ICE platforms (not ICE vehicles, but new platforms … no new gasoline engines under development).
Interestingly, Wyoming isn’t particularly large oil producing state. However, it is by far the largest coal producer and number two isn’t close. Most of that coal is burned to produce electricity which powers EVs…
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Good list, Mike. You got any idea when it is update, like bi-monthly?
Also, I think it should be of note one dealer in Key West - way ahead of all other EV OEMs - the $GM shop, is going full tilt boogie on a rebuild for Mary Berra’s new Ultium Battery tech, cars, add-ons, etc.
We’re talking a major investment by this dealer and $GM sending techs down here to teach EV maintenance to 3 techs in Key West.
Coming end of this year, said dealership will be teaming with $GM and the charging network (can’t recall right now that name, but I’ll chase that down again tomorrow) and installing chargers which allow charging of all brands.
How long before dealerships like this one open a convenience store attached to the chargers, or, at least vending machines with sodas and snacks and encouragement to people charging to walk the parking lot of new and used vehicles.
I’m thinking Berra’s hybrid model of including dealerships in her vision of the future is going to pay off once we’ve moved out of the next down leg in the markets.
Thanks for the link.
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The problem with any state trying to restrict EVs is a basic one: The state actively supports providing the fuel for EVs. No fuel = no EVs.
Thus, any state choosing to discourage EVs needs to take down each and every electric power generation and/or distribution system within the state. There would, of course, be laws prohibiting the existence of any electric power generator within the state in order to “keep the EVs out.” Anything less would be a violation of any “keep the EVs out” law.
You can guess how quickly a “keep the EVs out” law would make that state a pariah for a variety of technology businesses–because they serve the electrical industry–which includes EVs.
My guess is that it gets updated every time there is a new Supercharger installed that splits one of the tracked gaps. I’ve seen other lists of every new Supercharger that comes out ~monthly.
Mike
Descent back to the Dark AGES! The world dark with air pollution! 
The Captain
Schadenfreude.
Hawkwin
Is that 20?
You didn’t see the flock of pols and blowhards that got up on their hind legs and howled about a suggestion that gas kitchen ranges should be banned, due to combustion gasses they put in the home possibly being a contributor to asthma? Shiny-land is getting more bizarre every day.
Steve
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I don’t like Big Brother bossing me around either. Nothing blowhard about defending one’s right to choose. The Bill of Rights exists to defend individual rights and liberty from mob rule.
El Capitán
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What if they do this and the federal government raises the gas tax every year in response?
Mike
Businesses will not want to have locations in those states. And they could choose to move existing facilities out of those states. Why? Because their employees will not want to work in the states that ban EVs. Remember: Who are the companies’ employees? Their “up and coming” employees are Gen Z and Millennials (and later). They are going to find new employment elsewhere. So the company loses multiple ways.
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The state’s pushback is “our taxes are really low, we will shower you with incentives”. The companies I worked for over the years would only care about that. Any employee that chafes at the location, or “arm hijab” dress codes, for instance, gets a lecture on 'at will employment".
Steve
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Toyota Motor Corp. plans to keep gas-powered cars as a key part of its lineup, rejecting efforts by rivals to go fully electric amid concerns over how quickly consumers will embrace new technologies.
While the world’s largest automaker will introduce more electric vehicles in the coming years, it will also offer a range of other options, including gasoline-electric hybrids, hydrogen- and traditional fossil fuel-powered models, according to Chief Executive Officer Akio Toyoda, who met with reporters Thursday.
Battery-electric vehicles “are just going to take longer than the media would like us to believe,” Toyoda, grandson of the automaker’s founder, told dealers gathered in Las Vegas. He pledged to offer the “widest possible” array of powertrains to propel cars cleanly…
Toyoda expressed skepticism that automakers will be able to achieve the California mandate that will effectively ban gasoline-fueled vehicles by 2035 and require a substantial portion of sales be EVs by 2030. New York said Thursday it would institute similar regulations. “We have to look at the current price range and infrastructure availability and at what pace they’re going to be upgrading,” he said. “Realistically speaking, it seems rather difficult to achieve.”
DB2
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