The Jeep Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid is a very advanced SUV — as far as Jeeps go, anyway. Despite this, some examples on the road appear to have an issue counting, because they’ve been recalled for odometers that freeze at exactly 13,342 miles and then stop displaying entirely.
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National Highway Traffic Safety Administration campaign #21V949000 warns that as many as 2,903 plug-in hybrid Wranglers — all model year 2021 and all manufactured between September 8, 2020 and September 13, 2021 — could fall victim to the issue. It stems from instrument panel cluster software that may have been preinstalled on newer examples, or updated at a dealer for those built earlier in the run.
Supposedly the digital odometer reaches 13,342 miles (21,473 kilometers) and then the value disappears. “A missing odometer reading could lead to an unintended delay in critical safety-related maintenance, potentially impairing the safe operation of the vehicle and increasing the risk of a crash,” an NHTSA document dated December 14 reads.
It could also lead to an unscrupulous seller trying to rip off a prospective buyer, though the report makes no mention of that. You’d have to be a pretty careless shopper to be unable to verify mileage and blow past that red flag, but anything can happen. I suppose it’s better than if the clock froze at 13,342 miles but kept displaying, at least.
To fix this, Wrangler 4xe owners who have traveled less than 13,342 miles in their vehicles will be contacted for a free instrument panel update in late January. Those Wranglers that have more than 13,342 miles — at which point the odometer likely won’t show at all — will automatically get full cluster replacements. And anyone who has already paid for such service will be reimbursed, as the report notes. The more new software in cars, the more we’re going to keep seeing weird things happen when that software goes awry.
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A few times a year some crazy German drag racers gather at Airport Neuhardenberg for some half-mile top speed challenge racing, and the high level of stuff that shows up to this event is truly spectacular. Just like runway racing here in the States, there’s plenty of exotic and high-end sports car metal with big turbos and even bigger speed, but also like runway racing here in the States, the most impressive stuff is the small cars with big turbos.
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Anyone can buy a Porsche 992 Turbo and have a tuning shop crank up the boost to run a fast time. Not everyone can build a 1500-horsepower 4G63T Mitsubishi engine, stuff it in a Nissan Sunny hatch, and keep it running in a straight line for a half mile. Not only is this car incredibly fast, but it looks extremly difficult to keep pointed in one direction. All the way down the 2640, this car is wobbling and shooting off in one direction or another. It’s sketchy as hell in the best way.
There isn’t much about this build out there on the internet that I can find. Even the LCE High Performance shop website doesn’t so much as mention the thing shaped like a Pulsar GTI-R. According to the channel which took the video, it’s running a 2-liter 4G63 with a 76 mm turbocharger from Garrett, pushing 1500 horseponies to the ground on methanol. I might be able to run this fast on meth, too. In any case, as you can see from the video below, the car ran an absolutely mind-blowing 308.21 kilometers per hour in the half, which translates to 191.5 in units our American brains might understand.
Everywhere I’ve seen mention of the event calls it a half-mile, but with the name of the event being Race 1000, I wonder if maybe the actual course is 1000 meters? That would be just over 0.6 miles, so maybe close enough? Either way, 191.5 miles per hour is staggeringly impressive from a car which was originally offered with a 54-horsepower optional engine. This is a bit quicker than a stock one.
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Back during Chrysler’s darkest days between 2006 and 2009, the company offered a “Lifetime Powertrain Limited Warranty,” promising replacement of any major engine or drivetrain that ever fails during the life of the vehicle’s first owner. It was an incredible deal, and amazing that Chrysler even offered it.
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Seriously, the Lifetime Powertrain Limited Warranty seemed like a fantastic deal. My friend in college had a 2007 Jeep Wrangler outfitted with the stout Daimler-sourced NSG370 six-speed manual transmission and the so-so 3.8-liter V6 “minivan motor” known for making little power and burning lots of oil after a while.
He told me about this lifetime warranty he had on the Jeep, and how he was never going to sell it because of it. I had never really looked into that warranty, but once I did, I was amazed.
What’s the catch? Well, there really doesn’t seem to be one, except that the warranty doesn’t transfer to the second owner. The other thing worth noting is that, for the warranty to remain valid, owner’s have to have their vehicles inspected every five years, free of charge, by a Chrysler technician at a dealership:
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Photo: Jeep
This inspection requirement led to quite a bit of uproar. Last May, a bunch of disgruntled owners filed a Class Action lawsuit against FCA in the state of Michigan. The lawsuit basically resulted from owners’ frustration that their warranties had been voided because they had forgotten to get the required inspections.
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Here’s a quote from the class action complaint:
As result, Plaintiffs have been forced to incur significant out-of-pocket expenses for parts and labor to fix their vehicles. To add insult to these injuries, FCA has expressly repudiated its obligations to repair Plaintiffs’ vehicles by altogether “revoking” their Lifetime Warranties. Thus, Plaintiffs going forward will incur further expenses to repair the powertrain components and parts of their vehicles.
5. Plaintiffs herein allege that FCA’s non-performance of its obligation under the Lifetime Warranty is without justification because (1) Plaintiffs were never given reasonable notice of the existence of Inspection Clause at the time of purchasing their vehicles and (2) the Inspection Clause is unconscionable.
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My opinion doesn’t really matter on this, but I will say that the warranty inspection requirement is right at the front of the owner’s manual, and I’ll also say that — if I were to ever buy a car offering a lifetime powertrain warranty — the first thing I’d do is look at the fine print.
Honestly, I get why Chrysler requires the inspection. If someone doesn’t take care of their vehicle, of course the engine is going blow up; Chrysler needs a way to protect against that abuse. (With that said, there’s no doubt I’d forget, and then lose my warranty forever.)
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Anyway, that’s not what this little article is about. This article is a “Question of the Day.” It’s basically an easy way for Jalopnik to increase reader engagement and get two free posts per day — one question and one that basically lists your answers in slideshow form. We get one pageview per slide, so this helps us really crank up our metrics, which means more ad sales, which means more money.
Anyway, with the Lifetime Powertrain Limited Warranty as an example, it’s time for you to tell us about the wildest tactics you’ve ever seen automakers and dealerships use to sell cars.
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Today’s Nice Price or No Dice F-100 features Ford’s once unique “integrated pickup” design which added helpful space to the bed. This one is described as a “Rat Rod” by its seller, so it probably won’t do much hauling. Let’s see if it’s worth hauling out your wallet to buy.
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“Solid” and “sensible” were the words that popped up the most in the comments on yesterday’s 1994 Buick Century. You could add decent value and well-priced to that list too, since most of you felt the car’s modest $1,950 asking price was appropriate for the car’s age and condition. That resulted in a solid 87 percent Nice Price win.
Buick sold a lot of Centurys over the years, however, the car never quite reached the sales numbers of its sister marque, the Oldsmobile Cutlass. For a time in the 1980s, that was America’s best-selling car. At that same time, the Ford F-series became America’s best-selling production vehicle of any kind. Here we are four decades later and it still is.
Ford has retained that sales crown by virtue of investing heavily in the F-series platform, making a bit of a jack-of-all-trades suiting the needs of a wide variety of buyers, and ensuring that it is always ahead of the curve on features and capabilities.
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Today’s 1961 F-100 “Integrated Pickup” represents one of Ford’s attempts at making an innovative and forward-thinking truck. What was new and different about the truck was its integrated bed and cab, which eliminated the wasted space between the traditional box and body, allowing for what Ford would claim was 16 percent greater bed space in the same footprint as the separate-unit body style.
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These trucks gained the nickname “unibody truck,” although that’s a bit of a misnomer since the integrated bodywork still rides on the same ladder frame as a traditional pickup. Advantages of the design weren’t limited to just increased bed space either. By eliminating he separate bed and cabin walls Ford was able to reduce the number of stampings and welds in each body with related time savings on paintwork and assembly.
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As buyers discovered, however, the design had its flaws as well. Tradespeople soon discovered that the air gap between the cab and bed on a traditional pickup allowed for flex space when under a heavy load. Lacking that, the new F-100 would bow across its entire body, sometimes to the point where the doors would bind closed, preventing entry. These and other issues caused Ford to eliminate the body option after the 1963 model year, making it today one of the rarer trucks on the market today.
This one is presented as a “Rat Rod” owing to its patina’d paint and fancy Mustang wheels. The color scheme makes the truck look like a Pinto (the horse, not the flammable Ford) with straight bodywork — save for the rear gate — beneath. All of the glass seems intact and there’s no chrome to speak of so you needn’t worry about that. One tail lamp lens is AWOL, but that’s a pretty standard bit and should be easy enough to replace.
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A sarape-style seat cover masks whatever is going on with the bench seat in the cabin, and that’s complimented by a rubber floor covering and some missing trim panels in the door for an overall look that screams utility and unpretentiousness. One thing you might note in the cabin is the long, snake-like shifter sprouting from the floor. That’s connected to what looks to be a M5OD-R2 five-speed manual which, in turn, is mated to a fuel-injected 5.0 V8. Other updates include a switch to power disc brakes all around and a rack and pinion power steering system.
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Everything looks new and tidy both in the engine bay and down below. The under-truck photo in the ad shows what looks to be an incomplete exhaust system, but that’s likely to have been completed since.
The truck’s title is clean and the ad claims an odometer reading of 62,000 miles which, considering the major component replacements, doesn’t really mean all that much.
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What does mean a lot is the asking price, and in this F-100’s case, that’s $12,000. That gets you a truck with old school patina and modern mechanicals that, hopefully, have all been reasonably sorted. That’s kind of the textbook description of a rat rod. What do you think, could this F-100 Integrated Body pickup be worth that kind of cash as presented in its ad? Or, does that price put a damper on this patina party?
You decide!
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Portland, Oregon, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to RevUnlimiter for the hookup!
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Jeep’s plug-in hybrid Wrangler is pretty good. It’s also selling like proverbial hotcakes. Wanting to capitalize on a sales success, Jeep has announced a second price hike for the 4xe models, up another $1,220 for both the Sahara 4xe and Rubicon 4xe models, which now start at $52,520 and $56,220 respectively. Considering that the 4xe launched with a base price of $49,490 just eight months ago, it’s gaining price creep pretty quickly.
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Across 2021 the 4xe has been among the quickest selling new vehicles on dealer showroom floors, and Jeep has said that it’s the best selling plug-in hybrid in America. That’s right, it moves more units than Toyota’s Prius Prime or Rav4 Prime, according to Jeep. Impressive work, but at least some of that is due to the fact that the federal tax credit and better residual value mean 4xes currently lease for less per month than a standard gas-only Wrangler.
However you look at it, the Wrangler 4xe is an expensive machine if you want to buy one. It’s significantly more expensive than other plug-in hybrid SUVs, but obviously nothing has the off-road chops of a Jeep legend like the Wrangler. Is it worth the money to buy, or are you better off leasing? Well, there have been lease deals this year which see consumers paying as little as $250 per month for the electrified off-road behemoth. If you look at similarly-equipped gas-only Wrangler lease deals, they’re still over $300 per month. By that metric alone, it’s easy to see why the 4xe has been shifting units.
And price is only one consideration, really. When you consider that with the 4xe you’ll be able to run in electric-only mode both on road and off, it becomes an enticing proposition. With a combined fuel economy rating of 49 MPGe to run a full tank, and some 470 lb-ft of combined available torque, the 4xe starts to make a lot more sense.
Jeep probably isn’t wrong to charge an extra $3,030 more for the 4xe than it had initially planned to, but considering how quickly that price is going up, it’s possible that once first-wave 4xe buyers get theirs, that demand will wane and the price hike will bite Jeep in the ass.
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It’s definitely not this one, but I needed an image.Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)
Of the many, many vanity plates on the road, some stand out a bit more than all the others. And so I ask, what’s the best worst vanity plate you’ve come across in your travels?
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“Best worst” in this instance could mean “impressive,” “amusing” or “terrible” — really anything that demanded your attention for any reason. If it tied into the vehicle it belonged to in a clever way, that makes it all the better.
This question was inspired by two cars I’d seen recently. One was a red Alfa Romeo Stelvio I was trailing on the highway last weekend. It had a plate that read “STELVIO,” an oversized Alfa logo decal above the left rear wheel arch and gratuitous Quadrifoglio clover badges — some I suspect came with the vehicle, some it seemed did not. None of this was creative at all obviously, I was just amazed someone could take that much pride in their more-or-less ordinary Italian crossover.
A far more charming example was when I visited Formula Drift in Englishtown, New Jersey about a month ago. I happened across a Nissan Laurel parked outside the track, fitted with an RB26 motor out of a GT-R. As stunning as it looked, the best part might’ve been the license plate: “YANNY.” (If catastrophic world events have caused you to forget inoffensive memes from three years ago, here’s a refresher.)
That’s all I got, but what about you? What vanity plate is seared into your memory, for better or worse?
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A new law against vulgar vanity plates might just put Maine’s favorite vehicle out of commission. That’s right: the MILF Mobile could see the end of its days, The Intercept reports.
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If you’re driving through Maine and spot a teal 2013 Chrysler Town & Country minivan, you’ve found Brittney Glidden, and you’ve also found the vehicle that has “MILF Mobile” plastered across its rear window. Her iconic ‘TITSOUT’ license plate is one of over 400 current plates that would violate the new law’s vulgarity standards, which forbids curse words or common acronyms that include curse words.
What’s interesting is that this law can only apply to state-issued license plates, which means Glidden’s other bumper stickers — some of which read “Kids in this bitch, honk if one falls out,” “If you’re gonna ride my ass, at least pull my hair,” and “Condoms prevent minivans” — are fair game. All things considered, Glidden doesn’t consider her license plate to be that big of a deal.
“The plate references the fact that I exclusively breastfed all four of my children,” Glidden told The Intercept. “And that I frequently drive topless. Maine is in fact a topless state.”
Democratic state Senator William Diamond is the primary mover behind this plate ban. He argues that he doesn’t consider himself to be a prude and that there’s still plenty of room for free speech, even after banning vulgar words. Maine’s current secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, agrees, saying, “One of my favorite games on road trips as a kid was the license plate game. But sadly, this is not a game I’d recommend to kids on Maine’s roadways today.”
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Glidden has had her plate for years. In 2015, a law passed that removed the secretary of state’s ability to reject vanity plate applications based on vulgarity; the reversal of that law was introduced in January of this year.
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With the proliferation of vulgar bumper stickers, it does seem to be a little strange that there would be such a push to remove vanity plates; after all, why not simply slap on an even more obscene bumper sticker? Glidden seems to get it. From the article:
“I’m working on a design for a large vinyl wrap for my van. It’ll say ‘TITS OUT’ in huge letters with a diagonal red streak with swear words filling the whole thing,” Glidden said. “Like if the lyrics to the song ‘Shit Piss Fuck’ by Blink-182 were made into a giant, obnoxious decal. It might just make the state wish they hadn’t even worried about offensive vanity plates.”
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I stand with you, Brittney. Let’s keep that MILF Mobile on the road.
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If you live near Detroit and want to meet other Jalopnik readers/car enthusiasts, come cruise Woodward avenue this Friday and join this Facebook group.
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The Facebook group is called Detroit-Area Jalopnik Readers/Car Fans. Join it, then accept the invite to this event called Cruise Woodward.
Here are the Details:
Where: Troy Walmart (2001 W Maple Road)
When: 7 P.M.
What: A meetup of Jalopnik readers. We’ll hang out in the Walmart parking lot for an hour, then cruise up and down Woodward. We’ll likely stop in a parking lot along Woodward, and then go our separate ways.
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Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Willys is the first civilian edition of the Jeep that helped win WWII. This being Memorial Day in the U.S., that seems fitting. We’ll have to decide if this bare-bones four-by-four’s price is equally fitting.
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The start of a long weekend always puts people in a good mood. Last Friday wasn’t just the start of the long Memorial Day weekend, it also unofficially kicked off the all-important backyard barbecue and wearing matching white shoes and belts season. What a time to be alive! That happiness was reflected in both the comments and the voting on this past Friday’s contender, a slightly unpolished but still very nice 1986 Porsche 928 S. Prices on 928s are all over the place these days, but at $11,900, the seller of Friday’s car seemed to have hit a sweet spot, at least that’s the takeaway we took from the 79 percent Nice Price win it received.
Today is Memorial Day, which allows us to reflect on those who have given their lives so that we might enjoy our lives as best we can. To honor their sacrifice, today I put up my flag, and, after firing up the grille, I plan to spend the afternoon watching a couple of my favorite WWII movies — 12 O’Clock High and Empire of the Sun. I’m sure many of you have similar plans.
Before you do, however, we all need to take a look at this 1946 Willys-Overland CJ2A. This Jeep is a survivor from the early post-war era and represents one of the most stripped-down no-nonsense off-road capable trucks you could find.
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The CJ2A was the first consumer market Jeep — hence the CJ or Civilian Jeep moniker. Despite the shift from wartime to civilian duty, the first CJ wasn’t civilized at all. This one evidences that plain and simple ethos to the hilt, and while there’s not much to it, there is a lot to like.
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The bodywork looks straight — literally so. Aside from the rounded corners of the hood, every line and crease on the CJ2 looks like it was created in an Origami 101 class. There’s a bit of surface rust underneath, and plenty of pocking from previous attacks evident as well. Overall, though, the body and hefty frame both look to be solid citizens. The two seats (the passenger seat was originally an optional extra on the CJ2A) are as thinly padded as possible. That will prevent people from getting too comfortable and thinking about moving in.
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You won’t have too much time to get comfortable either as you’ll be engrossed in figuring out what all those levers sprouting from the floorboards do. According to the ad, the Jeep has overdrive on its T-90 three-speed so highway driving might actually be possible. Helping achieve that too, the original Go-Devil flat-head has been replaced at some point with a later Hurricane F-head four. That puts out something like 75 horsepower and 115 lb-ft of torque.
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The ad also says that the windshield was replaced along the way, but that the Jeep is otherwise all stock and original. The seller claims it to run “amazing,” saying that they “drive it all the time.” The title is clean and it wears California blue and gold plates which, while not period correct, are cool in their own right.
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This CJ2A is cool too. The question, of course, is whether it is cool enough to meet its asking. That’s a cool $14,900, and it’s now time for you all to weigh in on that price. What do you think, is this Jeep worth that much cheddar? Or, is this just a bare-bones truck with a fancy-pants price?
You decide!
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San Diego, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
Help me out with NPOND. Hit me up at [email protected] and send me a fixed-price tip. Remember to include your Kinja handle.
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Every one of us stood back mouth agape in awe of California’s Governor stepping up and committing to a statewide mandate for all new light vehicle sales to be electric by 2035. Fifteen years is not a very long time, and this seemed like an incredible power to wield from a gubernatorial executive order, especially because Newsom won’t be Governor in 2035 as his term limits will preclude him. Washington State’s House transportation committee just moved a bill one step closer to law, which if passed would make California’s EV mandate look like small potatoes.
Washington State House bill 1204, entitled Clean Cars 2030, aims to ban the sale and registration of gasoline and diesel-powered light-duty vehicles. Any new vehicle—barring the occasional emergency response vehicle—weighing under 10,000 pounds must be zero emissions (which pretty much limits new car sales to battery-electric or hydrogen fuel cell) by 2030 to be legal in the state.
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While California Governor Newsom’s mandate doesn’t really have teeth beyond his term, this legislative mandate from Washington State aims to change state law, which will be much harder to subvert than an executive order. It also draws up the timeline from Newsom’s utopian ideal by five years to 2030, just 9 years away! Actually, it calls for all 2030 model year cars to fall under this mandate, so most new cars sold in the state in 2029 will need to be zero emissions.
Since GM’s Super Bowl commitment to only selling EVs by 2035, many other automakers have come out in favor of an all-EV lineup, including Jaguar, Infiniti, Volvo, and others. Ford has committed to launching more EVs, but it’s all-EVs news cycle headline grab is limited only to the European continent. In any case, there should be plenty of EV choices on the market by 2030 for the citizens of Washington State to choose from.
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Washington State already has among the highest EV adoption rate in the country, but electric vehicles are still a minority of new car sales. In 2020 only 4.8 percent of new cars sold statewide were battery electric. To reach this proposed 100 percent goal by 2030, the state will need to see annual growth of 40 percent, which is an ambitious growth rate by anyone’s measure. The Pacific Northwest state has a leg up on the nationwide number, which is was around 1.85 percent in 2020, though by some models that is expected to exceed 3 percent this year.
Obviously this bill will still need to pass the house general assembly vote, and then be passed on to the state senate, before being signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee. It’s fairly safe to assume that if this bill makes it to Inslee’s desk, it’ll be signed. The governor has been bullish on climate, and practically formed his entire personality around that issue.
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For the record, I like this idea, and think that Washington is in a particularly unique position to make it happen within the next 9 years. It’ll require a lot of action on the part of the entire state government, including finding budget for massive infrastructure adoption. The homeownership rate in Washington State is over 62 percent, meaning a smaller than normal percentage of the state’s residents will need to charge their electric cars somewhere other than their homes. Washington already averages well above 2 cars per household, meaning many families will be able to adopt a current-spec EV while keeping their older gasoline, diesel, or hybrid-powered cars.
It won’t be without hurdles or struggles, but the bill does specifically call out a need to investigate impacts on the community of the state. A particular focus on “equity, especially including disadvantaged and low-income communities, communities of color, and rural communities, and strategies for maximizing equity in implementation of the 2030 requirement.” The bill also includes a study of job gains and losses which can be expected as a result of the 2022 to 2040 transition period. Thankfully, as opposed to the California mandate, this Washington bill includes a requirement for investing in “Charging infrastructure; software development; grid upgrade and management; battery, vehicle, and charging equipment manufacturing; education; training; and research and development.”
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It doesn’t appear that this bill is short sighted or rushed for green points. If it does come to fruition, this will completely change the economy, environment, and lifestyle of Washingtonians. I don’t often root for bills to pass, but I hope this one does. It’ll be an interesting experiment, if nothing else, for the rest of the country to watch with great intent. Someone has to take that first step, and it may as well be Washington State. Whip those votes!
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