Can California cut gasoline use in half in 15 years? Probably not - LA Daily News

“The car was listed at $50,000,” said Brown, who lives in La Crescenta and works in Van Nuys. You really have to kind of time it. ”. Brown’s observations suggest that for all the allure of emissions-free vehicles, getting Californians to adopt them will take time. That in turn creates challenges for slashing gasoline and diesel use, a goal state leaders are championing as part of their battle against climate change. A bill that has passed the state Senate and awaits a vote in the Assembly seeks to halve the amount of petroleum used in motor vehicles by 2030. It will be difficult to accomplish in such a short period. “If we’re talking about transportation petroleum use, then the goal probably isn’t possible,” said John German, a Michigan-based senior fellow with the International Council on Clean Transportation. A key problem, he said, is that people hold onto cars and trucks for a long time, an average of more than 11 years for American cars. Jerry Brown, who earlier this year called for the state to cut petroleum use in cars and trucks by “up to 50 percent. “I wouldn’t set forth on this pathway if I believed that the targets were unrealistic,” said Senate leader Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, the bill’s powerful co-author, in a recent. Source: www.dailynews.com