New York passed a new law that will ban the sale of new gasoline powered cars in the state beginning in 2035. It’s the first state to enact a ban via legislation. California and Massachusetts are using regulatory approaches to achieve the same ends.

According to ArsTechnica:

The new law doesn’t stop at passenger vehicles. It also requires zero emissions for off-road vehicles and equipment by 2035 and for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles by 2045. There’s some wiggle room with these mandates should batteries or fuel cells for large trucks or construction equipment lag significantly. The law says zero emissions will only be required “where feasible.”

That’s a lot of wiggle room. And the state may find it needs all the wiggling it can get, as fulfilling the mandate will require a build-out of charging infrastructure as well as a review of whether the state’s electric grid can handle the increased demand for power.

Who will pay for the infrastructure, the grid analysis, and the incentives that, undoubtedly, will be used to spur EV purchases? Taxpayers, rate payers, and more taxpayers. The switch to alternative fuel transportation is already underway without government mandates. It may reach critical mass long before the mandates kick-in…or a future crop of politicians could decide to end the mandates entirely.

But no one should be under the illusion a mandate will make the switch fast, cheap, or easy.