“They’re deciding which things need to get subsidized at how much (and) not leaving it up to the taxpayers or the consumers,” he said. “And they have a bad track record. They’ve thrown billions at failed enterprises and failed programs.”
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alifornia policymakers are committed to making sure that electric vehicles — and the charging stations and other infrastructure needs associated with them — transform the state’s transportation sector. But it won’t come cheaply.
A review conducted by the San Diego Union-Tribune showed various state agencies have committed $2.46 billion in public funds — some of it already spent and the rest planned over a number of years — for programs aimed at luring drivers out of cars and trucks powered by internal combustion engines and encouraging them into zero- or low-emission vehicles.
And that doesn’t count the $800 million in electric vehicle, or EV, programs that Volkswagen is spending across the state as part of an unprecedented settlement to help resolve the car maker’s emissions scandal. A state entity — the California Air Resources Board — is overseeing how and where the money is spent.
When the VW settlement is taken into account, investments to electrify California’s transportation landscape go well north of $3 billion, thus far.
“For the average person, that’s a big number, when you’re talking about billions,” said Carla Peterman, who recently completed a six-year term as a commissioner at the California Public Utilities Commission. “But when you look at the actual transportation sector and how much money goes annually into infrastructure and fuel, it’s a small amount.”
The two largest portions of the money come from a pair of the most influential agencies in state government — the utilities commission, or CPUC, and the California Air Resources Board, also known as CARB.
The CPUC has set aside $1.048 billion for various EV programs, with a lot of emphasis on constructing charging stations. The money comes from ratepayer fees collected by the three investor-owned utilities the CPUC oversees — San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric.
The air resources board has budgeted a slightly higher amount — $1.087 billion.
More than half goes to the state’s rebate program that is offered to Californians who buy or lease low- or no-emissions vehicles the state deems eligible, such as battery-electric and plug-in hybrids.
The standard rebate gives Californians $2,500 who buy or lease battery-electric vehicles, $1,500 for plug-in hybrids and $5,000 for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. Lower income drivers can get more, while high-income drivers are subject to caps.
Another $423 million of CARB’s efforts go to zero-emission trucks, buses and other vehicles to rid 10,000 tons of noxious nitrogen oxide from California’s air.
The vast majority of the dollars CARB reserves for its EV initiatives comes from money raised via the state’s cap-and-trade program, the trading system put in place to reduce greenhouse gases.
A third state agency — the California Energy Commission — also spends money on EV adoption programs, but to a lesser extent. Using money largely from Department of Motor Vehicles registration fees, the commission will spend $230 million through January 2024 to build refueling stations for hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
The CEC expects to spend another $95 million by the end of this year on charging stations and other EV programs, although the commission said the numbers may eventually exceed $200 million. more
I’m sure their estimate will be as accurate as it was for the high speed rail.
What a great idea, in light of PG&E going tits-up.
They’ll be running extension cords from AZ and NV.
The government there should set an example by replacing all government vehicles, including police and emergency vehicles, with electric ones.
Seems to me California isn’t content with it’s lack of fires. Put more dangerous combustibles on the road that firefighters can’t extinguish via conventional methods.
When a stray EV follows the road lines into the woods and ignites the forest, how much of a role does that play in reduced emissions?
Or, how many more EVs need to be on the road to offset one EV lighting the forest on fire? Ahh, now it makes sense to have moar!!
3 billion for electric cars, a billion dollars a mile for a High Speed Train,5 Billion a month for illegal aliens, what ever happened to sanity?
Sanity went out with Woodrow Wilson and the birth of Progressivism, FDR and The New Deal and was further destroyed by LBJ and The Great Society. All democraps by the way.
Free pie in the sky for everyone!
The state will decide which cars Californians drive because that principle worked so well in the Soviet Union.
Continuing with redistribution of wealth to those companies who bribe them.
It may take many years to fully implement, so I’m guessing the total tops $10 billion easy.
Will PG&E be supplying the electricity after their bankruptcy?
And they will shut down coal fueled power plants because they pollute the air, hydroelectric dams because they kill the fish, and nuclear plants because they kill everything.
Stop and think about this. They’re spending 3 billion to severely reduce the amount they collect on the ridiculous gas tax. Mean while the unfunded liability for CalPers is approaching 200 Billion. Now they are proposing a mileage tax. A parade of idiots.
California will have more windmills than people.
@HungJumper February 5, 2019 at 11:49 am
> They’ll be running extension cords from AZ and NV.
That copper will be “harvested”, by the New Californians™, on their way through the desert “fields”.
@B_B – Great point. They’ll just transfer the gas tax to your electric bill. That way EVERYONE will pay a road tax, not just drivers. Oh, and drivers who still use IC engines will get to pay twice; once at the pump and once a month on your bill.
To paraphrase Horace Greeley; Go East, young man.
Quick, somebody dig a canal from the Pacific to Texas!
Electric trucks for long haul? Don’t think so.
Pay to play,the progressive way.
At some point why stay there?
Cause and effect is lost on these people.
and Cali. is 1 trillion 300 billion in debt…
This not ready for science electric car
crap should reduce their debt.
If they estimated $3 billion you can bet that the group has taken the lowest estimate on every bit of work and the real number is likely double that (at least).
My question is where are they going to get the power from? Brownouts are already a fact of life in California now without high levels of electric cars on the road. Their green laws would not allow new oil or natural gas fired plants nor any nuclear plants. Solar and wind have proved themselves less productive (and a lot dirtier to construct and dispose of) then the green lobby would have you believe. Hydro is pretty well tapped out. They may buy from other States but then they may just build new oil or natural gas plants to satisfy the demand but that’s only moving the perceived problem somewhere else.