Pros and cons of banning gasoline-powered cars
With many countries working to ban the new production of gas-powered cars, some people are optimistic while others are not so sure. It’s honestly great that companies are becoming more aware of the ramifications of which the production of their goods have on the environment.
With the rise in air pollution becoming a problem, many states are planning to face this situation by placing a ban on further production of gas-powered cars. For instance, California’s plan is to enforce the ban by the year 2023, as the problems of wildfires become an all-time high, even though many climate change skeptics would say otherwise.
“We have a strategy to be as bold as the problem is big, to recognize that we have agency,” California Governor Gavin Newsom announced at a news conference, as he stood before a glittering half circle of electric cars, according to the New York Times.
However, research conducted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency has shown that from 1990 to 2018, the air quality in the United States has gotten better. The substantial difference is especially seen within carbon monoxide levels that have dropped by 74% and lead has decreased by 82%. Nowadays, highway vehicles that run on petroleum have the highest emission levels amongst motor vehicles, especially regarding carbon monoxide (at 35.8% above the average) and oxides of nitrogen (32.3% over average), as well as many other toxic air pollutants.
Gas-powered vehicles emit 8,887 grams of carbon dioxide per gallon of gasoline and 10,180 grams of carbon dioxide per gallon of diesel according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Each year, the average passenger vehicle emits 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide.
By banning gasoline-powered vehicles, California will lower the rates of emission of toxic pollutants within our environment, drastically. The downside would be that electric cars are still more expensive than the traditional gasoline car and they would have to travel in shorter distances.
This will inevitably cause pushback from those who do not believe in climate change. Some questions that may arise are, what will happen to those that already have gas-powered vehicles? And how will this affect gas prices — will they be raised higher due to its scarceness?
Gas-powered cars are currently more affordable than electric vehicles. If we replace gas vehicles with more expensive electric or solar-powered cars, this would then limit the amount of people that can have cars. This would mean that the cities that adopt this will have to start increasing access to public transportation, especially for those within lower economic communities.
The possibility of installing more public transportation options or a community bike sharing system are some viable options. Plus, city governments and planning committees will have to take into consideration the regional limitations of it all, like, for example, the fact that most northerners would not be able to cycle year round.
Students that live on college campuses already struggle to find safe forms of transportation, rather than walking. Since many do not bring vehicles on campus, whether due to the struggles of bringing it, finances, etc. Those who do bring their own vehicles often do it for convenience and safety concerns about alternative forms of transportation, such as anxieties about walking from place to place at night. This means that campus security would have to take into account these additional transportation considerations and potentially increase their on-campus presence in order to ensure that students would be able to get around safely.
The idea of adopting modernized electric or environmentally friendly cars seems like a far-off goal, especially for the small cities in Pennsylvania, but we are approaching it sooner than we think. For instance, Allegheny College has already incorporated 2 charging stops in the Vukovich and Bentley parking lots, as well as, they have a bike share and Zipcar program. Though some schools still have not made these accommodations for their students, which puts them in unsafe conditions.
The transition towards electric cars rather than gasoline is still a long process, with many things to take into consideration. Essentially, there would be many environmental benefits, but the shift would also put a handicap on the everyday people who already struggle to afford and maintain a car. This can leave many carless, with the use of public transportation as their main source of transportation.
Even further into the future, I wonder how long we would have to wait for the next “Elon Musk” to make advances within other forms of transportation, such as aircrafts and trains.
Eric Matthews • Mar 29, 2024 at 6:26 am
Electric cars offer us the only way out of the oil death spiral. Fast charging systems will revolutionize electric vehicles. This is what the oil companies are truly afraid of. Not that you won’t be able to buy a gas powered car, but that you won’t want to.
Birger • Mar 22, 2023 at 3:15 pm
Keep gas powered engines and joe biden and thos demoncrates need to go to hell
Jd • Sep 5, 2022 at 11:32 am
This is bullshit on so many levels. Talk about increasing the equity and equality gap in this country. So the rich comes up with new laws in the name of environment friendly transportation and leaves a huge gap of citizens who can actually afford such vehicles. People are already struggling in the current situation.
Tam A • Aug 27, 2022 at 10:58 am
The Right to choose is failing everywhere. I understand our climate control concerns, but to force this on people is really disturbing especially if you can’t afford it.
The cost isn’t conducive. We can barely pay the high electric bills the government keeps increasing for our home /apartment and we have a hard enough time keeping the power plant from blowing due to excessive AC use from hot temperatures . It also means more money for new power units to have installed on your home and more money for electric stations between travel. SERIOUSLY
Has anyone talked about where the heavy expensive battery cells will be stored to be destroyed if they can be destroyed??. So now they’ll need landfills for old leaking batteries.
Where’s this lottery money coming from for people to buy electric cars, especially for seniors and retirees like me?. ANGRY
Robert Nichols • Aug 25, 2022 at 4:19 pm
F*** You California for doing this .The politicians that enforce this should be voted out. Electric cars are failing in the cold climate states. You are going to put alot of businesses and people out of work with this. Why not make trash trucks,semi, ups,fedex and others have electric vehicles. People with boats,snowmobiles, atv’s etc will not be able to use them.
ods sa • Sep 22, 2021 at 8:39 pm
electric cars ftw
Connor • May 29, 2021 at 4:10 pm
electric cars are good and maynot be perfect but they are defiatly better then gas and in time i beleive that they will be perfected and will be the new normal form of transportation
Duncan • Mar 6, 2021 at 7:23 am
Banning gasoline cars will help lower CO2 emissions, that’s for sure.
However, what people need to know is that there is absolutely no such thing as a “zero emission vehicle”. The production of electric vehicles also causes pollutants to be emitted into the atomsphere. Not only that, even if cars themselves don’t emit any CO2 and whatnot, where does all that electricity come from? If that electricity comes from coal, oil, or natural gas, those coal power plants must be equipped with emissions control devices (in particular, SCR systems to reduce NOx and scrubbers to reduce SOx, CO, and CO2 emissions). Otherwise, they’re still going to pollute.
Not only that, banning gasoline cars this quickly would cause a shock to many countries’ economies. For one, many people would lose their jobs. But the bigger problem is that our electricity usage would absolutely skyrocket. It’s incredibly ironic that California want to ban the sale of new gas cars, even if it’s by 2035, because they have huge problems with wildfires and rolling blackouts and brownouts. I would not be surprised if their blackout problems had something to do with their renewable mandates. Solar and wind can only get us so far because they are not reliable. Wind turbines also don’t pay for themselves over their lifespan and have issues with bird strikes. What about all the pollution caused by making solar panels? Sure, it may be less than I might expect, but it’s a problem nonetheless. One of the only reliable, dependable sources of electricity (at least for now) that isn’t “fossil fuels” is nuclear power.
Sure, we could build more power plants, run coal power plants on biomass, and make more use of nuclear power, but at some point it would be (at least this is how I feel) much, much, much, much simpler if we just kept offering a gasoline or Diesel option.
Finally, the arguments that gasoline and Diesel can only produced from fossil fuels is also starting to lose ground as researchers have found ways to use pyrolysis to turn sewage, household garbage, agricultural waste, construction and demolition debris, waste wood, waste plastics, and many, many other things into oil. This oil can then be de-sulfurised and refined to produce not just gasoline and Diesel, but also kerosene, bio-char, and syngas. Meanwhile, the heat required for pyrolysis could come from nuclear power as it can produce very high energy outputs. The reasons why nobody is taking this seriously right now is probably because crude oil is relatively cheap.
This is exactly what I mean when I say that electric vehicles are overhyped.
That said, I actually DO support electrification to some degree. Small (entry-level and mid-size) cars, SUV’s, and minivans would be the perfect application for electric cars. Delivery trucks, school buses, city buses, and some other medium-duty applications would also greatly benefit from electrification. But keep the gasoline and Diesel options so that us car enthusiasts can have some fun, and start converting ships and boats to use hybrid propulsion (gasoline-electric or Diesel-electric) or nuclear power instead of direct mechanical drives.
d • Feb 10, 2022 at 3:22 pm
chill bro its just an article
Sofia • Aug 25, 2022 at 12:32 pm
I totally agree with you. My only thought is that if they ban gas vehicles, car enthusiasts like us won’t be able to enjoy the car community anymore. And all the cars will basically be the same, there won’t be any distinction or individuality.
Tam A • Aug 27, 2022 at 11:06 am
Sounds logical. Keep fuel ⛽️ and work around certain vehicles as you stated for SUV’s, and minivans would be fine including delivery trucks, school buses, city buses, and some other medium-duty applications would also greatly benefit from electrification.
Jd • Sep 5, 2022 at 11:36 am
Vote out the democrats that are activity ruining this country in every possible way. Domestic terrorist are among us. vote their ass out!