Should Gas-Powered Cars Be Banned by 2035?

“Transportation accounts for roughly 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and new vehicles sold today will still be on the road in 2045. A 2035 ban on new gas vehicle sales does not remove any existing car; it shapes the fleet that will dominate emissions in the 2040s and 2050s — exactly the decade when the remaining carbon budget closes.”

“Battery costs have fallen from $1,100 per kilowatt-hour in 2010 to under $100 in 2024, a 90% reduction in 14 years. At current trajectories, EVs will be cheaper to purchase and operate than gas vehicles by 2030 without any mandate. The ban does not force consumers to buy more expensive cars; it aligns the regulatory endpoint with a market transition already underway.”

“The average EV price in 2024 remains above $50,000, and the federal tax credit reaches fewer than half of buyers due to income caps and vehicle price limits. Rural Americans drive longer distances, cannot charge at home in rented apartments, and live far from public charging networks. A mandate that works for urban professionals is effectively a prohibition on affordable transportation for everyone else.”

“Mining the lithium, cobalt, and manganese required for EV batteries produces significant environmental harm in Chile, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Indonesia — water table destruction, worker exploitation, community displacement. Replacing tailpipe emissions with mining emissions in other countries does not solve the global problem; it relocates it.”