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By
Greg Bishop | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – California’s
move to ban sales of gas vehicles in the state by 2035 may go
too far even for Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week heralded his state’s
move.
“We will be the first jurisdiction in the world to require all
new cars to be sold to be alternative fueled cars,” Newsom said.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker told a group of farmers at a forum
near Lexington this week he had a chance to sign on to a pact
with California, but didn’t.
“So that should give you some indicator,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker has a stated goal of one million EVs on Illinois roads
by 2030. He enacted a program giving $4,000 taxpayer-funded
rebates for the purchase of an all-electric vehicle with a
$1,500 rebate for all-electric motorcycles. Applications are
being accepted by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
though Sept. 30. The total program cost is $17.9 million.
“Look, do I think we ought to see electrification over the –
yes, of course, I’ve encouraged it,” Pritzker said. “I think
it’s a good thing for us to electrify. But, it is going to be
gradual, it is going to take time. Illinois is not going to snap
its fingers and require you to go buy an electric vehicle
tomorrow.”
Gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia,
warned what increased electric vehicles could do to energy cost
and reliability.
“Of all people, we read last year when Elon Musk told people in
California to slow down on the car movement because this was
going to affect the grid,” Bailey said. “This is a real
problem.”
Greg Bishop reports on Illinois government and other
issues for The Center Square. Bishop has years of award-winning
broadcast experience and hosts the WMAY Morning Newsfeed out of
Springfield.
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