Wyoming politicians didn’t get the memo: propose a ban sales on EV sales

17 January 2023

Before we jump to any conclusions let's first look at the entire picture. You read that correctly - Wyoming republican politicians have proposed a bill dedicated to “phasing out the sale of electric vehicles by 2035.”

It’s not a law and the actual bill makes for a light reading, it is full of real nuggets and “bring back the old days” nostalgia. The bill simply wants the Wyoming state to consider “phasing out sales of EVs” and if passed, it would “encourage industries and citizens to limit the sales and purchase of new electric cars.”

So, not much beef on that bone then. Well, not exactly. This is yet another example of how the EV revolution is affecting wider communities. Wyoming is known for its oil industry, it has been basically built on it and people are simply scared of the future. With the push towards electric cars, politicians are scoring cheap points by keeping people in the dark rather than looking for solutions taking advantage of the new technology.

Even if passed, the bill is simply a political posturing, a peacock fight of sorts at the expense of the public. Another useless piece of paper just so some politician can put their name on it. Rather than actually fight for the community and its employment.

Wyoming is a huge and beautiful state but its economy relies on oil. It’s so much easier to stoke fear than offer solutions. Like it or not - the electric cars are coming and they are coming fast. It affects everybody and not all results are positive, at least in a short run. We could argue here about true green credentials, we could talk about geopolitical realities. But the issue is that people are going to lose their jobs if their chosen representatives don’t go out there and find a way forward.

What do they do instead? File a meaningless bill to get some headlines. Yikes. Sure, it starts the conversation and we all should be aware that electrification is a double-edged sword. But we all knew the change was coming and rather than prepare for it, we were told to sit and wait and the politicians promised to protect the old industries - knowing very well they couldn’t.

The final recommendation in the proposed bill exposes it for nothing more than a joke - it says if the bill is passed, its copy should be sent to the governor of California. Thankfully the state of Wyoming made an assessment and concluded that the bill will have zero impact - fiscal or personal.

It’s a difficult situation that millions of people are facing, many will likely lose jobs. But oil companies will survive, they will transition to EV charging as they have already started. There will be new jobs, new skills to learn. What we need is a concerted effort to find solutions rather than trying to protect the industry that got us into this mess in the first place.

Via