Gov. Glenn Youngkin Pulls the Plug on Virginia's EV Mandate

This announcement out of Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin's office yesterday is pretty cool news.

In 2021, under the benevolent eye of uber-prog Democratic black-face aficionado Gov Ralph Northam, the completely Democratic-held VA legislature decided to commit the state to follow the California emission standards, which, as everyone knows, are tougher than the federal ones. Progs of a feather flock together.

In 2022, doubling down on their infinite wisdom, VA lawmakers saw fit to impose what's known as CA's Advanced Clean Car II regulations on their fellow Virginians. In essence, what that was going to do was impose a 100% EV mandate on the state by 2035.

Virginians themselves were not overly enamored about kowtowing to CA's environmental whackos and restrictions, either. As more and more went wrong with the Golden State and more became obvious as far as drawbacks with EVs themselves, opinion really started to swing against the draconian choice restrictions.

From the moment he got into office, Youngkin had said he would do everything in his power to pull VA out of the nationwide compact of states signed onto this agreement, and he's been as good as his word going after it. He had VA's attorney general digging into the nuances of the agreement, as in, "Was VA obligated to remain a signatory when the updated ACC II regs took effect in Jan 2025?"

The answer came back, "Nope."

That's all Youngkin needed to point the state toward the exit sign.

WE'RE OUTTA HERE

Governor Youngkin today announced the end of the California electric vehicle mandate in Virginia, effective at the end of 2024 when California’s current regulations expire. An official opinion from Attorney General Jason Miyares in response to a request by the Governor and Senate Republican Leader Ryan McDougle confirms that Virginia is not required to comply with expansive new mandates adopted by the unelected California Air Resources Board (CARB) set to take effect January 1, 2025.
“Once again, Virginia is declaring independence – this time from a misguided electric vehicle mandate imposed by unelected leaders nearly 3,000 miles away from the Commonwealth,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “The idea that government should tell people what kind of car they can or can’t purchase is fundamentally wrong. Virginians deserve the freedom to choose which vehicles best fit the needs of their families and businesses. The law is clear, and I am proud to announce Virginians will no longer be forced to live under this out-of-touch policy.”
“Today, I’ve issued an official Attorney General Opinion that confirms that Virginians are no longer legally bound to follow the emission standards of California,” said Attorney General Jason Miyares. “EV mandates like California’s are unworkable and out of touch with reality, and thankfully the law does not bind us to their regulations. California does not control which cars Virginians buy and any thoughts that automobile manufacturers should face millions of dollars in civil penalties rather than allowing our citizens to choose their own vehicles is completely absurd.”
In 2021, the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation authorizing Virginia’s Air Board to adopt California’s “Advanced Clean Cars I” regulation pursuant to Section 177 of the federal Clean Air Act. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) recently adopted “Advanced Clean Cars II,” set to take effect January 1, 2025, which would require 100% of new cars sold in Model Year 2035 to be electric vehicles. An opinion from Attorney General Jason Miyares confirms the law, as written, does not require Virginia to follow ACC II. Therefore, the Commonwealth will follow federal emissions standards on January 1, 2025.

Virginia’s Gov. Youngkin says the state is “declaring independence” from California EV mandates: “Government telling people what kind of car to drive is just wrong.” pic.twitter.com/8p1R9DaDLY— CNBC (@CNBC) June 6, 2024

The hiccup in the plan is that the VA House is in the hands of Democrats at the moment who believe their approval is required to bless the governor's good intentions. They've already voted against repealing this mandate three different times. I'd say they're kinda stuck in their climate cultish ways.

Virginia Senate Democrats on Tuesday defeated for a third straight year Republican efforts to repeal an electric vehicle mandate that aims to reduce carbon pollution through the adoption of California’s stringent rules for vehicle emissions.
A Senate committee voted down three GOP-sponsored bills that would have rolled back the so-called “clean cars” legislation first passed and signed into law in 2021. The law will phase in a requirement that all new cars, pickup trucks and SUVs offered for sale be 100% zero-emission by 2035. Sales of new gas-powered cars will be banned, though drivers will be able to keep their existing gas-powered cars or buy used ones.
"We know that we have not honored the commitment to keep our Earth green and to pass on to our children an environment that is really worthy of their future," said Democratic Sen. Barbara Favola of Arlington as she spoke against the repeal measure, urging her colleagues not to reverse course.

Predictably, they are now swooning at the thought of not trailing in CA's destructive wake. Let the hyperbole and mixed metaphors fly!

...While Virginia is now in the process of exiting the agreement, nothing is yet finalized. Youngkin has set for the state to leave the California 2035 standards by the end of the year. However, state legislators in Virginia said on Wednesday that they would be fighting the Governor on this.
“The decision is reckless, illegal and unconstitutional,” said Democratic Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell. “Working with a legislature that has a different political orientation can be challenging, but we fought a war in 1776 to ensure that an executive would never have the power to nullify laws by press conference.”

WHUT

In any event, Youngkin believes he's got the legal side stitched up.

.@GovernorVA #Younkin Pulls the Plug on #Gas #Car BAN.

He canceled the mandate that all cars sold in the Old Dominion must be #EVs by 2035.

A new legal opinion from the state AG makes a strong #legal argument that the #governor has this power.https://t.co/Gp8MRwtmJw— Steven Stiles (@StevenS23337721) June 6, 2024

Advocates for the ACC II are starting to get a teensy bit nervous that VA walking will start a rush for the exits. Wyoming has already legislated NEVER allowing an EV mandate in the state. The West Virginia AG wasted no time chiming in...

Great decisions by Virginia Governor Youngkin and Attorney General Miyares. As the AG and next Governor of WV, I will keep pushing back against all of Biden’s destructive EV policies. They are bad for both Virginias and America! https://t.co/mk5vXTM8ic— Patrick Morrisey (@MorriseyWV) June 5, 2024

...while a reality check is beginning to settle in on some members of the agreement. That oleaginous Governor Gavin Newsom might be in a snit about the defection as his presidential aspirations heat up is like watching a cake melt in the rain.

...“I’m not sure if any states will follow at least immediately, but Virginia has also now set a precedent. Not everyone has to follow California, and can stop at any time. Outside of the West and Northeast, we won’t see this pop up too much. But what Virginia did is big. States can decide to get out of the 2035 mandate. Even California can end it if they wanted to. It is not only possible to get out of it, but it is now being done. That is something that supporters of the plan did not want. Newsom hasn’t said anything on this yet, but you can bet that he is at least a little bit furious at states now dropping out of his mandate. Electric cars are the future, but that 2035 date is cutting it close for many, with many states not even having the infrastructure to support a lot of electric cars yet. And many states are looking at slower rollouts or situations where both can be sold.:
“Many states had already though that California’s mandate wasn’t so great, and now we have the first drop out.”

So all these states that have sold their souls to Randall Flagg-lite's master plan are now doing the side-eye to see who makes a move for the exits...and who sticks around to circle the drain with Newsom.

Like that would be a tough choice.

Well.

I meant for rational people.

“I think the big question is will car companies make cars they can’t sell in 8-10 states? “

Not as hard as you think. The whole industry is moving to electric drivetrains. They are cheaper and easier to manufacture than mechanical drives. One electric motor and maybe one gear vs 12 gears, hydraulic clutches ,fluids and actuators.

Toyota the king of automakers is only making its flagship product the Cmary as a hybrid of multiple forms. Why? Because with a electric drivetrain you can have a slew of different types of vehicles all using the one or two electric motors of the drivetrain.

Here is Toyota thinking and where the whole industry is heading. With a two motor hybrid drivetrain which Toyota is the master of you can power that with four or five sources of primary power.

One is the usual ICE hybrid set up in parallel form. The ICE(gas,diesel) is attached to motor 2 and via a single planetary gear to motor 1 then to the wheels. This allows for a doubling of MPG and also regen energy recovery. You need a tiny 1-2 kWh pack for this set up so for every EV sized pack you get 30 to 40 hybrids. This is Toyota’s primary path and what they see as the global future which includes Africa,Latin America and rural Asia. That ICE can run on liquid or gaseous biofuels,synthetic fuels from coal, or electrofuels made with nuclear,wind,solar electrons plus water and CO2.

Two adding in a simple one-way dog clutch on motor two allows it to be driven only one way this set up allows both motor one and now two to drive forward the wheels while holding the ICE crankshaft stationary. Why is that important because now you have a full electric drive system in the end of an ICE crankshaft. You can then drive the vehicle with both motors and 150+hp of electric power while still having the ICE to run at any time you want. With a 15-20kWh pack you now have a plug in hybrid set up that covers the first 80 miles of any trip with electric power than can change over to the ICE and run another 500 off the ten gallon tank. 80 miles is double the distance the average American drives daily and covers 99% of all trips taken in a given year. Since the avg is 40 you only drain the pack to 50 DOD the sweet spot for long life with LFP cells. Which at 50% DOD have a 20,000 cycle life to 80% SOH.

Three once you have a full electric drive system that does not care where it gets us 400 to 800 volts DC from. This opens up the field for series hybrids like a locomotive or a ship where a very efficient generator is driven by a primary power source like a diesel. In the light duty vehicle the obvious choice is a small high eff ICE designed to run at two operating points. One is in charge mode close to max output 50-100kw the other is charge sustaining in the 15-20kw range. A two cyl high compression/expansion ICE would be 45% efficient which is triple what an otto cycle ICE is at 5
-10% of its rated output. A 200hp car is only using 15hp to drive at 75mph and its ICE is at 12% efficiency at that point or less. Series hybrids should be in the 70mpg range for a 5 pass sedan sized car.

Four is one of my favorites once you have electric drive system in this case only motor one is needed you can use a tiny gas turbine connected to a high-speed AC generator. A 100hp turbine is the size of 10# coffee can and the generator is smaller. For comparisons the 170kw generator on the 777 jet engine is the size of a 10# can and can be picked up with two hands. Turbines when run at their peak eff point hit 40% and don’t need any exhaust clean up. They also can burn anything flammable liquid or gas. Alcohols,natural gas,hydrogen,ammonia,gasoline,jet fuel,diesel,used cooking oil if it burns and can be pumped a turbine will eat it. Modern silicon carbide inverter will happily turn 400-1200hz AC into 800V DC in a lunch box sized power converter. That’s all the electric drive system cares about.

Four is another fav. MIT has perfected thermal photovoltaics at 40+% efficiency think white hot gas burner right next too solar cells the power factor is 100x of sunshine per square centimeter of cell surface it’s the fourth power rule of irradiation. A 50kw unit would be the size of a small trash can and easily fit under the hood. Here again the white hot gas burner doesn’t care what you feed it if it burns it eats it. Same same SiC DC to DC turns the output into 800V DC for motor one two is no longer needed.

Five is of course a full EV with a 50 to 90kWh pack. Toyota is going the solid state cells route, same for Nissan. Solid cells cannot burn they are ceramics ,can’t melt either. There is a slew of cell tech that can fast charge at 5 to 10C or 10% to 90% in five to ten min. Storedot has cells in production that can do 5 min and 2000 cycles with 90% SOH that’s 600000 miles in a 300 mile EV and have a 15 year calender life.

The real future is aluminum cells be it aluminum ion with sulfur or carbon cathodes or aluminum metal and graphene. Aluminum has 3 electrons vs one for Li,Na or Pb. Aluminum cells have no flammable liquids nor is the aluminum flammable. The aluminum metal cells uses store bought aluminum foil has anodes and Reynolds foil don’t burn last time I checked. Aluminum also has a 1600wh per kg capacity at the anode the highest of any electrochemical system. That’s three times lithium and four over sodium.

Aluminum also doesn’t thermal runaway it can’t via physics. Al cells can do 400 amps per gram yes 400 that’s 100C or fully charged in seconds not minutes. So anything a supercharger could throw at them Ai-ion will take. Aluminum cells need no cooling or heating they work from -40C to over 120C this is the future for portable power not just EVs but power tools, laptops, tablets, medical devices. 120wh/kg is where LFP stated and is close to where LFP is today 150wh/kg. Aluminum graphene has a 900wh/kg potential so these cells certainly well get better they are first gen cells vs 5th LFP. This is just one of three groups working on Ai graphene cells the others have cells in production on small scales now. Notice the cycle life that’s 30+ years of daily 100% to 0% use. Aluminum is 8% of the earth’s crust by mass and the third most common element after silicon and oxygen on earth.

Lithium is a stepping stone to aluminum cells. Graphene used to be Gucci expensive to make but the Australians and University of Queensland commercialized a methane to graphene process that churns it out by the tonne. Not coincidentally they are also the first the market with Ai-graphene cells they are at 300wh/kg already not 120 thats firmly in NMC territory not LFP they doubled LFP already and have a path to 900 which is triple NMC , a Tesla S with a 420 mile NMC pack would be a 1200+ mile aluminum ion pack with megawatt level charging and no way for it to thermal runaway that is the future and its coming luddites can’t stop it. Why...because the world uses high power cells for smartphones,laptops,tablets ect those cells will be developed even without EVs which are along just for the ride. Ai cells allow a phone to be charged in 10 seconds or less then run for days same for laptops this alone guarantees Ai cells will be developed and commercialized en mass.

“Such a cathode retains high specific capacity of around 120 mAh g−1 at ultrahigh current density of 400 A g−1 (charged in 1.1 s) with 91.7% retention after 250,000 cycles, surpassing all the previous batteries in terms of rate capability and cycle life. The assembled aluminum-graphene battery works well within a wide temperature range of −40 to 120°C “

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aao7233

Here is what I was looking for earlier. Toyota specifically and also Nissan. Toyota is going all electric drive systems with very efficient generators. Nissan hit 50% thermal eff with its tech that’s fuel cell performance. Toyota likes hydrogen fuel cells but the catalysts are expensive. If you can get fuel cell performance with ICE cost then that’s the path. Synthetic fuels are coming in a big way. My generation will witness the end of cheap and easy liquid hydrocarbons sooner than later when not if the other 6 billion humans demand access to what only ten percent of the population has had easy access too. India China and Africa have three billion alone in the rising middle class that demand access. Synthetic fuels in a 70mpg ICE could cost $10 a gallon and the average person cost per mile would be less than what it is today at $3 and 25 mpg avg fleet economy. The Navy already can make synthetic jet fuel for $6 a gallon from.seawater and electricity they are using nuclear power from the carrier’s reactor but no reason you couldn’t use shore power from a PWR reactor or off peak wind or solar curtailment power either. The only metric that matters is cost per mile and at 70 to 80mpg you can triple fuel costs and keep the same cost per mile. Remember the EU already has $9 per gal fuel and they don’t die it’s an emotional thing for Yanks not a practical one.

https://global.nissannews.com/en/releases/210226-01-e

https://www.motor1.com/news/722314/toyota-claims-game-changing-engines/amp/

Both are going the way that makes sense electric motors for the drive system. You get all the benefits of max torque at zero rpm, cheaper than mechanical drives due to modern power electronics being cheaper than machining gears and fluid based hydraulics. You get regen energy back which in urban driving is more the half the energy expended it doubles urban mpg. With 40 to 50% ICE efficiency charging and running electric motors at 98% eff you can triple motorway miles per gallon. Remember a 200hp engine is only at its efficiency peak at 75% peak torque and rpm. This is not where a ICE only car runs on the motorways. It only takes 15hp continuous to overcome air and wheel drag for a sedan at those speeds. So your 200+hp ICE is poking along at low power and very low as in 12% or less BSFC eff. This is exactly why hybrids get such good mpg they shift the operating point of the ICE to more eff zones the smaller the ICE and the closer it gets to being run at 75% all the time.

The ideal suburban/urban car would be a 5 pass sedan with a LFP pack sized at 100 miles EV range with a tiny 60% eff burn anything ICE with VVT so you can shift the compression ratio on the fly. Have a 18:1 mechanical compression/expansion ratio and use late intake valve closing to vary the effective comp from 12-18:1 with direct liquid injection GDI class injectors you can then run any liquid fuel from low octane diesel to very high octane alcohols and anything between using VVT on the exhaust side to control internal EGR the temp on compression will always after the first few combustion cycles be hot enough to MCCI combust any fuel. This is what Clearflame does to burn low alcohols in a diesel using MCCI combustion. 50+% eff is possible at 18:1 you need two cyl for 100kw its peak eff is 75kw and that’s a 3C charge on a 100 mile pack aka 20 minutes run time every three hours drive time at 35mph avg speed typical of urban cycles. On the motorway you run it once an hour from 40% to 90% then shut down. The choice is go with a smaller one cyl at 50kw now it’s a 1.5C charge rate or you load follow at 12-18kw at speed this drops your eff into the 30s but keeps the cycles on the pack lower for LFP cells or better yet Ai-grp cells shallow cycles to 50% or less DOD re irrelevant as LFP will do 20,000 or more and at 50 miles per cycle that’s a million miles well past the life of a car.

So the ideal car for most suburbanites is a plug in with 100 miles off the plug. That’s 99% of all drives on cheap plug power that’s one fifth as expensive per mile vs $3 a gallon fuel. 93% of all trips are 30 miles or less that’s only 30% DOD on a 100 mile pack which for a sedan would be 25kwh in size. At 300wh/kg that’s 84
Kg or less than the average weight of the American male. Tesla has LFP cells down to $90 kWh that’s $2250 for the pack cells. Remember those cells are taking the place of 99% of all miles the average American drives per year. We are an urban nation 75
% of us live in dense urban counties or suburbs. Over 100,000 miles of use @30mpg and $3 per gallon is $10,000 in fuel costs. 100,000 miles at 4 miles per kWh which is a typical 5 pass EV is 25,000 kwh and at 8 cents per kWh is only $2000 in fuel costs. That’s $8000 cheaper. Mind you the electric drive train was already cheaper for the manufacturer to make vs a 8 to 12 speed automatic transmission. A one or two cyl engine is also cheaper for them vs a 4 to 8 cyl. So they can either take the difference in profit or pass the savings on as a cheaper MSRP.

https://afdc.energy.gov/data/mobile/10318

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.