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SUSTAINABILITY
Electric vehicles are in my future - and yours
Two years ago,
I bought my third
hybrid car in the
past 16 years, all
Toyotas. I have
loved every one
of the gas and
electric battery-
powered vehicles:
a Highlander, then
a Prius, and now a RAV-4, which is my
favorite.
Considered a compact SUV, my
RAV-4 is currently getting an impressive
42.5 miles per gallon, thanks to its electric
battery and what I call my “soft” driving
techniques. I’ve learned how to maximize
the car’s fuel efficiency with a steady speed,
minimal sudden braking or acceleration,
and coasting to red lights and traffic slow
downs. Other motorists don’t seem to be
as thrilled with my driving as I am—given
their noisy (and gas-guzzling) acceleration
when they pass me.
Once a speedy driver myself, a slower
life in retirement and a desire to reduce
my fossil fuel (carbon) footprint have led
to new driving habits. When I bought my
RAV-4 in 2021, I knew it would be my
last hybrid. An all-electric vehicle (EV) will
be my next purchase.
Cars and Carbon
The transportation sector is Georgia’s
largest source of the greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions causing global heating
and extreme weather events. According
to the nonprofit Drawdown Georgia
(drawdownga.org), a whopping 41% of
the state’s emissions are released from cars,
trucks, ships, trains, and planes every year.
Nationwide, the percentage is lower, but
transportation remains the number one
producer of the carbon pollution fueling
the planet’s climate crisis.
Human activities are responsible
for almost all the increase in GHG in
the atmosphere over the past 150 years.
Human actions can also slow (and possibly
reverse) the catastrophic trend if we move
quickly with new policies and major
investments in the most effective solutions,
one of which is a rapid transition to zero-
emission electric vehicles.
EVs are more efficient than internal
combustion engines — and easier and
less expensive to maintain. The average
fuel efficiency in the U.S. today for gas-
powered cars is 25.7 miles per gallon;
however, the efficiency for most electric-
powered is at least 100 miles per gallon of
gas-equivalent. In other words, you can
drive four times as far using electric power
instead of gas and at lower fuel costs.
Drawdown Georgia calculates it will cost
just $31 to drive 1,000 miles on electric
power versus $ 165 on gasoline.
Electric cars can be charged overnight
at home using a traditional 11OV outlet
and a cord plugged into the vehicle, or
more quickly at fast-charging public
stations. In Georgia, there are already
more than 30,000 EVs and 1,600 public
recharging stations, primarily in metro
areas, with thousands more on the way.
Thanks to new federal funding,
Georgia will receive $135 million in
grants to significantly expand its charging
infrastructure. The focus will be on key
road corridors in rural and underserved
communities with the goal of creating a
network of recharging stations every fifty
miles. The Inflation Reduction Act passed
last year offers another incentive with tax
credits: $7,500 for new EVs and $4,000
for used EVs assembled in North America.
Leading the Deep
South battery belt
Georgia is positioned to become “the
electric mobility capital of America,”
according to Gov. Brian Kemp. Since
2018, dozens of EV-related projects
have contributed more than $20 billion
in investments. While the state’s focus
has been on successfully attracting new
facilities and jobs, less effort has been
made to provide consumer incentives. The
generous tax credit once offered to EV
purchasers in Georgia ended in 2015.
“Our state is leading in
manufacturing,” says Jennette Gayer,
director of Environment Georgia
(environmentamerica.org/georgia), “but
not leading in policies to encourage people
to drive EVs made in Georgia.” Recent
legislation at the State Capitol proves
her point, even while also revealing the
increasing interest of elected officials in
electric transportation.
Motorists in gasoline-powered cars
and trucks pay a gas excise tax that funds
the construction and maintenance of state
roads and bridges. Since EVs do not use
gas, they pay no taxes. Their owners do
pay a high annual registration fee of over
$200, the second highest in the country.
During Georgia’s recent legislative session,
a bill to overhaul the way payments are
made at EV charging stations was debated,
amended, and then passed. Similar to the
tax levied on gasoline, the EV charging tax
will be calculated based on electricity used:
a kilowatt-hour fee.
Because Georgia already imposes a
high annual fee on EVs to help replace
lost gas tax revenue, electric transportation
advocates view the additional charging
tax as punitive. As originally written, the
tax would have been the highest in the
country, a fact that Gov. Kemp and other
EV boosters rejected. The tax was lowered
closer to the middle of the current national
range in the final version of the bill. A
pilot study will evaluate whether or not
the flat tax rate should be replaced with
a system based on all vehicle EV miles
driven.
New tailpipe emission limits
In mid-April, the Biden administration
announced proposals for stringent new
tailpipe pollution limits intended to
ensure that EVs make up two-thirds
of new cars sold in the U.S. by 2032.
Described as a “quantum leap,” this action
— undoubtedly to be heavily debated,
challenged, and amended — would be the
most aggressive climate regulation enacted
in the U.S.
To meet federal goals, automakers may
have to cut emissions for 2032 vehicles by
more than half. Hurdles to the success of
this initiative are many, but not impossible
to overcome: supply chain issues, adding
new recharging stations, vehicle price,
and, of course, the usual politics, meaning
opposition from climate deniers, fossil
fuel producers, and those who simply hate
change.
Fossil fuels face a diminishing future in
transportation. Electric vehicles are one of
many solutions that will help us contend
with climate change. Time is of the essence
— as we make this transition easy, fair, and
fast.
ABOVETHE
WATER LINE
Sally Bethea
121 MAY 2023
RoughDraftAtlanta.com
