California Sets A Nationwide Electric Vehicle Mandate

Where are the antitrust cops when you need them? Stellantis and California this week struck a deal to protect the state’s electric-vehicle mandate from future political and legal challenges.

Here’s another illustration of collusion between big government and big business that hurts Americans.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has banned the sale of new gas-powered cars in the state by 2035. Unlike Biden Administration officials, progressives in Sacramento are honest about their plan to phase-out gas-powered cars. EV sales will have to ramp up fast over the next decade, making up 51% of sales by 2028 and 100% by 2035.

A Clean Air Act waiver from the Biden Environmental Protection Agency lets California impose its own greenhouse-gas emissions standards and other states to follow them. While California is waiting on the EPA to extend its waiver through 2035, its EV mandate is already creating headaches for car companies.

Auto makers essentially hedged their regulatory risk, knowing Mr. Trump could lose re-election or that his Administration could lose its legal battle with California. Their hedge paid off when Mr. Biden won and restored California’s waiver. Other auto makers that didn’t cut deals with California now operate at a regulatory disadvantage.

In any case, the biggest losers of this “partnership” with California will be Americans across the country who will have fewer gas-powered options. California is imposing its EV mandate nationwide by using regulation to take auto makers hostage. Mr. Newsom may not be running for President in November, but he already acts as if he governs the country.