Today We're Spotlighting Big Oil's Favorite Alternative Fuel - Electricity +VIDEO

A Green-vehicle story for car shoppers concerned with fuel economy, hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles and gasoline and diesel exhaust emissions

Clean, efficient, cheap; what's there not to love? No wonder the oil industry and their star spokespeople support electric-powered cars...

    ...There's one other thing that makes electric the oil industry's favorite alternative non-fossil (non-abiotic) fuel: There's no chance that it will ever replace gasoline and diesel for decades and decades (if ever).

By Marc J. Rauch
Exec. Vice President/Co-Publisher
THE AUTO CHANNEL

        Originally published March 24, 2017

The reason The Auto Channel decided to spotlight electric-powered vehicles today is because of a press release I received yesterday, Thursday, March 23rd, from NRDC (National Resources Defense Council). The press release is alerting The Auto Channel and other members of the media that California Air Resources Board (CARB) will discuss today the status of the states' clean car standards following the results of their formal review.

The bottom line of CARB's formal review was that the state intends to stick with their existing standards for model years 2022-2025, to begin considering post-2025 standards, and to remain fixed on electric-powered vehicles as their solution to achieving the standards. The impact of these standards, according to the release, "will be felt far beyond California because 12 other states also have adopted California's standards, collectively protecting 113 million U.S. residents from dangerous pollution." (The emphasis on the words dangerous pollution is mine.)

Marc Rauch

The press release makes it clear that this action is being taken specifically in spite of President Donald Trump's decision to reopen federal clean car standards, which CARB claims, is "the first step to weakening them."

The NRDC alert also connects CARB's actions to New York state's new DRIVE CLEAN rebates program that was announced two days ago (Wednesday). The New York program is also centered around battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in order to create the "clean" in DRIVE CLEAN.

Now, all of this would be fine if enough electric vehicles could be put on the roads by the goal dates to protect us from the dangerous pollution caused by gasoline and petroleum diesel, and if the entire effort wasn't just a scam by state governments to suck penalty fees from auto manufacturers and consumers.

You see, this is the bottom line to CARB's bottom line: Five years ago, CARB approved a package of new emissions rules that they claimed will save drivers money, create jobs, and cut smog and greenhouse gases under what they labeled “The Advanced Clean Car Program.”

At that time we published a response to CARB that I had sent to as many members of their board as I could. I pointed out then, what I still state now, that the electric and electric-hybrid vehicles they are counting on will not be sufficient to meet reduced pollution goals. Nothing has changed in either the technology used, or in consumer interest in buying these vehicles that will result in any meaningful reduction in dangerous pollution. In fact, because ownership of on-road gasoline and petroleum diesel vehicles will continue to increase between now and 2025, there will be more, not less total dangerous pollution.

You can read how I laid this all out by clicking: Latest CARB Rules Screw Californians Yet Again.

What I also laid out was the inevitable results in not reducing harmful emissions and getting enough new "approved" vehicles on the road. Those results are fines levied against auto manufacturers and increased consumer vehicle registration fees. The state profits, the citizens lose.

The other winner is the oil industry because, once again, instead of government doing something to take the necessary steps to protect us against dangerous pollution, they just kick the can down the road to another generation.

The oil industry is using electric vehicles as a diversion, and politicians are getting rich from it.

If the states of California and New York really wanted to improve conditions and protect us they would enact new rules that mandate the use of higher ethanol-gasoline blend levels in all gasoline-powered vehicles, including hybrid electric cars; and mandate increased use of biodiesel made from ethanol. There would be an immediate and dramatic effect on reducing harmful emissions. Work could then continue on trying to perfect electric vehicle technology so that in 30 or 40 or 100 years from now a true transition to electric vehicles might be able to take place.

• SEE ALSO: Electric Cars - Solution or Chinese Diversion
• SEE ALSO: Big Oil (STILL) Benefits From "Divide and Conquer"