It’s still summer in California and the state is gearing up for a heat wave. The state’s electric grid operators have warned that they are ill-equipped to handle the expected demand increase as residents move indoors and crank up the AC. In an effort to prevent the grid from total failure, officials have requested “consumer conservation” including a directive that electric vehicle drivers not charge their cars. This comes less than a week after California’s top environmental regulator moved to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles in the state by 2035. The goal is to force more Californians to drive EVs. 

But if California officials can’t keep up with current energy demand today, why should residents—who are being forced to drive electric-powered vehicles—trust that they will build a better, more resilient grid in the future? Especially as the state doubles down on the very policies that led to the current energy crunch: banning hydraulic fracturing, shutting down nuclear, and embarking on a renewables-only approach. 

California’s energy crisis is not a product of some uncontrollable force from Mother Earth. It’s the result of bad policies, poor planning and wishful thinking. The same wishful thinking that is behind the gas-powered car ban. 

The ban is not only flawed, but also illegal which is why 17 Attorneys General are fighting back. To find out more behind its legal fallacies, check out my earlier blog available, here.