By Sophia Nahorski

If you own a gas car, better say your goodbyes to it. With the Biden administration aiming to end all gas vehicles purchases by 2035 through the Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act, there will be endless waste, effects on those who are living off of a low income, and a loss of jobs. I believe that this is not a substantial solution to pollution because of all these negative effects that will occur.

Firstly, what will happen to all of the gas cars? If we replace all of these gas-powered cars with new electric cars, that will just cause excess waste, which there is already too much of. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about 10-12 million cars are put into landfills each year. If there are 10-12 million cars already being disposed of every year, how many more cars will be added to that amount? Statistically, there are about 278 million vehicles owned by Americans, and that number will continue to increase. About 84 percent of American owned vehicles are gas-powered, meaning that about 234 million of those vehicles will need to be disposed of by the year 2035.

Secondly, there are many people that will not be able to afford a new electric car. This will negatively affect many Americans. NBC states that the average household in America can not afford to buy a new car. The government is already in $34 trillion dollars of debt so it would not necessarily be a smart idea for it to start giving out electric cars, which on average cost $53,000. There is a program that will provide money to Americans if they get rid of their gas-powered cars called the Inflation Reduction Act. But again, this will just cause even more waste because now America has to store all of the waste from cars somewhere.

Lastly, the change to electric cars will negatively impact the gas station business. It is estimated that 80 percent of gas stations will be closed by the year 2035, the year Biden is aiming to end gas vehicle purchases. CNBC reports that “Gas stations, however, are investing in Level 3 chargers, which are more powerful and generally charge a car in 20 to 30 minutes.” However, these machines cost between $500,000 and $1 million dollars. This will be an incredibly large expense for gas station owners to commit to. 

Though the government is pushing for the elimination of gas-powered vehicles in order to get rid of the emissions that transportation is creating to try to reduce climate change, electric cars still produce harmful emissions in the environment. Though they produce less emissions, the waste from gas cars will be counterproductive. Because of the charging stations and production of more electric vehicles, this will harm the environment, as well.

Considering everything, the government should not push electric vehicles onto Americans. I am not saying that electric cars are bad, just that the usage of them should not be forced upon Americans by law. It is not the correct answer to the problem of climate change. We as Americans should instead use only what is absolutely necessary to our lives and stop over consuming.