California’s move to ban sales of gas vehicles in the state by 2035 may go too far even for Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week heralded his state’s move.
“We will be the first jurisdiction in the world to require all new cars to be sold to be alternative fueled cars,” Newsom said.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker told a group of farmers at a forum near Lexington this week he had a chance to sign on to a pact with California, but didn’t.
“So that should give you some indicator,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker has a stated goal of one million EVs on Illinois roads by 2030. He enacted a program giving $4,000 taxpayer-funded rebates for the purchase of an all-electric vehicle with a $1,500 rebate for all-electric motorcycles. Applications are being accepted by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency though Sept. 30. The total program cost is $17.9 million.
“Look, do I think we ought to see electrification over the – yes, of course, I’ve encouraged it,” Pritzker said. “I think it’s a good thing for us to electrify. But, it is going to be gradual, it is going to take time. Illinois is not going to snap its fingers and require you to go by an electric vehicle tomorrow.”
Gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, warned what increased electric vehicles could do to energy cost and reliability.
“Of all people, we read last year when Elon Musk told people in California to slow down on the car movement because this was going to affect the grid,” Bailey said. “This is a real problem.”
***Courtesy of the Illinois Radio Network***
