8 States to Ban Gas-Powered Vehicles – Will Illinois Ever Follow?

I will believe this when I see it actually happen. There are reports that as many as 8 states are making plans to ban gas-powered vehicles. That begs the question if Illinois will ever follow that trend?

I saw a report about this highly-controversial issue shared by The Daily Mail. It references Advanced Clean Cars II legislation in California which says that by the year 2035, all cars, trucks and SUV's will be zero emissions. Do the math and that means gas-powered vehicles are out. 

California is not alone in this push to get gas-powered vehicles off the road over the next decade or so. Oregon, Washington state, New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey are among the east and west coast states that plan to ban vehicles fueled by petrol.

Since many are convinced that what California does Illinois will follow, that makes some wonder if Illinois will eventually try to drive (vehicle pun intended) gas-powered vehicles off the road. Not so fast is what I think would be the prudent thing to add. 

If you dig deeper into the sale of electric-powered vehicles, you'll see that 5 lowest areas are all near Chicago with Detroit and Cleveland among the low end of EV sales. While it's true that many of the vehicle manufacturing centers in Illinois are increasing EV assembly lines, they haven't completely made that turn yet.

Over the next few years we may very well see technology conquer some of the challenges in EV vehicles like how batteries deal with the extremely cold winters in many parts of Illinois. That's future maybe. As for now, time will tell if you start to hear whispers of Illinois pursuing this all electric vehicle future.