Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal Abolishes the Internal Combustion Engine

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)’s Green New Deal legislation will abolish I.C.E. — the internal combustion engine.

The bill introduced Thursday by Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) requires “overhauling transportation systems in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector” through investment in “zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing,” a move which would necessarily eliminate the internal combustion engine as we know it.

An outline released on Thursday of the Green New Deal’s proposals identifies “14 infrastructure and industrial projects,” including a goal to “replace every combustion-engine vehicle”:

Totally overhaul transportation by massively expanding electric vehicle manufacturing, build charging stations everywhere, build out highspeed rail at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary, create affordable public transit available to all, with [the] goal to replace every combustion-engine vehicle.” (emphasis added).

These transportation mandates, coupled with the Green New Deal’s call for the U.S. to have “net-zero emissions by 2050,” will impact nearly every sector of the economy and every region of the country–especially the Rust Belt states that were crucial to President Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory.

An estimated 7 million Americans work in the automotive industry and earn their living from manufacturing, selling, or servicing cars and trucks. The abolishment of the internal combustion engine, which still powers the majority of vehicles, will impact these Americans the most.

The auto industry is already experiencing the disruption caused by an industry-wide transition from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric and autonomous vehicles. Climate change politics in North America and Europe and energy policies in Asia have pushed the industry towards electric as the future of automation, despite consumer preferences in the U.S. and Europe for large gas-powered vehicles.

Nearly all of the world’s auto manufacturers are investing heavily in electric vehicles, with many now declaring that their entire line up will soon be electric.

The German auto giant Volkswagen is investing 80 billion euros toward mass-producing electric vehicles and fazing out the combustion engine by 2026. The first of VW’s new electric cars is set to debut in 2020.

The biggest winner in the race to the electric future is China, where companies like Ford and General Motors have partnered with Chinese state-owned companies to develop and manufacture new electric vehicles in Asia. Ford has 16 new electric models coming out of China in the next few years, and GM intends to launch 20 electric models in China by 2023.

GM CEO Mary Barra told investors on Wednesday that GM is committed to an “all-electric” future, but does not expect its electric vehicles to be profitable until “early next decade,” CNBC reports.

GM began laying off thousands of American workers this Monday, which industry insiders are calling “Black Monday.” Breitbart’s John Binder reports:

The Monday layoffs of at least 4,000 GM white-collar American workers in Michigan, Ohio, Maryland, Georgia, and Texas is just the latest component of the corporation’s laying off of 14,700 workers in North America — including at least 3,300 American factory workers.

GM’s management has explained the mass layoffs as being part of a “restructuring” to focus on electric and autonomous vehicles to be manufactured in China.