The Electric Car Fantasy

New York Senator Chuck Schumer has promised that if Democrats win the Senate in 2020, they'll pass a law requiring that every car in America be electric by 2040. Chinese policymakers must be celebrating, because China makes the majority of the world's batteries and has the most new battery factories under construction. The Chinese will need someone to buy all those batteries. This past summer, when China abandoned subsidies for electric vehicles (EVs), sales collapsed. China's plan now is to require automakers to produce EVs, but at a paltry 3 percent to 4 percent of output. Perhaps Beijing will ultimately increase the allocation, but truly revolutionary technologies never require governments to order their adoption. As for Schumer's plan, it will fail on every front—including saving China's battery industry.