Chamber president: Mandating expensive EVs hurts communities and businesses of color | Opinion

Here in the Garden State, there is no doubt we all share the goal of improving our environment for future generations. However, with so much at stake, we need to ensure that everyone is considered in the process of enacting environmental regulations that broadly impact our state’s economy, particularly for communities and businesses of color.

That’s why I have serious concerns about Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposal to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.

Don’t get me wrong, the proposal is full of good intentions. However, the governor has prioritized supposed environmental sustainability at the cost of economic equity, when New Jersey’s underserved communities deserve solutions to both.

The tremendous costs of mandating only electric vehicle sales, and thus, banning new gas car sales, will result in a hefty transportation tax on the communities and businesses that can least afford it.

Nationally, when low-income households are already spending more than one-quarter of their income on transportation, even small increases in the price of transportation are likely to hit students, seniors, small businesses, and other vulnerable communities the hardest.

On average, a new EV is a much bigger upfront expense than a comparable gas-powered vehicle. And EVs come with additional expenses, like home charging stations, volatile electricity prices, costly batteries, and other maintenance concerns. While some subsidies exist, they are woefully inadequate and not always guaranteed to be there to make up the difference.

As resources shift to those who can afford electric vehicles, families that continue to drive used gas-powered cars will pay higher prices for fuel and maintenance. Small businesses, many of them minority-owned, who depend on multiple vehicles to run their businesses, transport goods and services and make deliveries, will also be burdened by additional costs, and may be forced to dramatically alter their business models.

And as there are fewer gas cars on the road – starting in 2027, when the state mandates that 43% of all new cars sold in New Jersey be EVs – the demand and cost for all gas cars goes up. So even used gas cars will become more expensive as they become more scarce.

The ban on gas-powered cars will also negatively impact an estimated 1.2 million people who rent homes, and are disproportionately people of color, and cannot install their own home charging stations.

Renters, who comprise more than one-third of all housing units in New Jersey, are some of the most cost-burdened members of our community and may either be left without options at their property or on the street to charge their vehicles, or face rent increases from landlords that pass the expense onto residents.

Furthermore, the added expense of installing and maintaining charging stations to lure range-anxious consumers will create an unnecessary burden on small business owners across our state.

These challenges are even more difficult for Black entrepreneurs who have less access to capital and more difficulty raising private investment to make major infrastructure investments like expanding electrical lines and installing pricy charging stations at their businesses.

While the governor’s staff has openly acknowledged that this ban will drive some commerce out of state, business owners in this state need more certainty that this policy will not drive them out of business.

Finally, to support the new demand for electricity, our grid will also need a multi-billion-dollar modernization that would be passed along in every ratepayer’s monthly bill. When combined with the governor’s requirement that homes shift to all-electric furnaces and appliances, the costs will continue to add up and increase utility bills and the cost of living in New Jersey.

Public polling shows that a majority of New Jersey residents do not support the administration’s proposed mandate for electric cars and 69% believe it will cost them more money. State legislators on both sides of the aisle have also spoken out against this proposal, further demonstrating the broad public opposition to Governor Murphy’s action.

We need a truly transparent, inclusive process that would provide an opportunity for all legislators to hear from their constituents and vote accordingly. Working together, we can find ways to reduce our carbon footprint and improve our environment, but the Governor’s mandate is not the best way to do it.

John E. Harmon, Sr., is the founder, president, and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.

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