by Ed Maurer

California is doing a pretty good job when it comes to the generation of electricity from renewable sources; however, we’re not doing enough to meet the challenge in the transportation sector representing 39% of GHG emissions in 2021 according to the California Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory Program.

We applauded the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) for deciding recently to implement the nation’s first zero-emission standard for boilers (water heaters), and now the SCAQMD has taken another significant step toward reduced pollution by limiting the dirty transportation in our great harbors. When implemented, this new rule will take a chunk out of the big blue slice of our toxic emissions pie.

It is up to us owners and operators of fossil fuel driven vehicles to do our part and get rid of the darn dirt slingers, but alas “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41) This weakness continues to permeate all efforts dealing with climate change.

1. New Car Sales

Sales of electrical vehicles in California reached a peak at the end of June 2023, but since then, sales have declined! During the 2^nd quarter of 2024, 595 fewer EVs were sold than during the 1^st quarter. The percentage of EVs of total car sales is at about 25%, a share that must increase substantially if we are to stay within the rules adopted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). It mandates that 35% of new cars sold must be plug-in hybrid, EVs or hydrogen fuel cell by 2026.

According to the California New Car Dealers Association, a total of 1.78 million new cars were sold in 2023. 63.9% were powered by internal combustion engines, down 7.7% from 2022, and the combined sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV)*, hybrids, and fuel cell vehicles accounted for 35.9%. This allows the state to crow that the CARB goal for 2026 has already been reached. However, the share of true electric vehicles, those relying on batteries only (441.293 BEVs) represents only 25% of total sales. Locally, we can be proud of OC new car owners as the percentage of BEVs sold in our county clocks in at 30% and is ranked 6^th highest in California (LA county #8 and San Diego County #9).

*The PHEV category includes, among many others, the BMW 3 Series 330e XDrive with an electric range of 20 miles, a car that earns a HOV sticker. The inclusion of PHEVs and hybrids as EVs ought to be phased out as soon as possible.

A big reason for the disappointing EV sales numbers is that Tesla new car registrations fell by a dramatic 24%. In a Bloomberg piece on July 18, 2024, Kara Carlson and Dana Hull point out that “Tesla accounted for 53.4% of California’s BEV market in the first half, down from 64.6% a year ago.”

2. Public Chargers

Another reason why BEV sales are stagnant is probably the insufficient number of public chargers. The California Energy Commission (CEC) displays these numbers for southern California:

Direct Current (DC) Fast Chargers in southern California – most of these have public access

Los Angeles: 2,286

Orange: 929

San Diego: 753

Riverside: 579

San Bernardino: 630

Level 2 Chargers in southern California – most of these have only private access

Los Angeles: 29,139

San Diego: 7,813

Orange: 5,841

San Bernardino: 1,315

Riverside: 1,255

For the entire state, there are only 93,642 Level 2 and 11,370 DC Fast chargers, or a total of 105,012 chargers. Although the state is well aware of the need for more public chargers and says we need a million by the end of the decade, it is unlikely that this goal can be reached as long as the construction of public chargers remains as underfunded and disorganized as it is. Alejandro Lazo of CalMatters has written an excellent article on the current state of electric charger affairs, and it appeared in the OC Register on July 16, 2024.

Public Transportation

We’ll tackle this important aspect of CO²  emission reductions in another issue, but point out that, in our opinion, we will also need a public transportation system that is able serve suburban dwellers effectively and comfortably.