California’s quest to mandate electric cars for citizens is over after the state dropped its request for a Clean Air Act waiver. This comes after SEMA filed a federal lawsuit in October, challenging the constitutional nature of the mandate. The organization hasn’t dropped that legal action yet, weighing what the state’s action might mean in the broader picture.
President Trump moves to restore consumer choice for future cars.
SEMA along with sister organization PRI have called on California to immediately cease and desist any efforts to implement or enforce the Advanced Clean Fleets policy. The organizations warn such action would be challenged legally and believe the courts would not find in the state’s favor, claiming it’s “a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution.”
In other words, SEMA isn’t just backing down but instead is sending a loud and clear message to California that it won’t sit idly by while consumers’ rights are violated in the name of the environment.
After all, as the organization points out in a release about these developments, it’s been leading the way towards new technologies for the aftermarket, providing vehicle owners with choices instead of heavy-handed government mandates.
Like SEMA, we don’t believe the government should be choosing which technologies drive innovation in the auto industry. This business of picking winners and losers has a horrendous track record and taxpayers are often on the hook for failed ventures hatched in an environment that fosters laziness, corruption, and deception.
California’s actions would have been mimicked by over a dozen other states which pledged to follow the Golden State’s example of forcing consumers, not to mention trucking companies, to follow its stringent regulations, corralling them into EVs.
As we’ve argued before, not mandating electric cars should actually benefit their design. Automakers will be forced to come out with features which appeal to consumers, rather than relying on the government giving them a captured market.
Image via Ford