Oldmansplaining: The American Coalition for Ethanol’s Ron Lamberty eflects on a few bygone expressions, including one about a ‘camel’s nose under the tent’ that seems applicable, in both good and bad ways, to California’s transition to zero-emission vehicles.
by Ron Lamberty (Ethanol Producer Magazine/American Coalition for Ethanol) … I recently used the phrase “camel’s nose under the tent,” which might have been an old saying a long time ago, when I first heard it. I had to oldmansplain it’s from a fable, where a man crossing the desert stops for the night and goes into his tent, leaving his camel outside (as one would). … Eventually half of the camel’s body is inside, and he points out that configuration holds the tent open, allowing sand to come in, and suggests his whole body should be inside the tent. The man allows it, and once the camel is fully inside the tent, there is no space left for the man, who then has to go out into the sandstorm.
The “camel’s nose” phrase seemed appropriate when I used it to describe a small change in an important regulation. Late this summer, the California Air Resources Board released its Advanced Clean Cars II Regulations, which are “the rules” for California’s implementation of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2020 executive order banning sales of new internal combustion (IC) passenger vehicles by 2035.
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CARB’s rule came out, and the 100 percent battery electric vehicles by 2035 edict became a transition to ZEVs with ZEVs defined as BEVs, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV).” Hmmm. A plug-in hybrid has an internal combustion engine, and it needs fuel.
Naturally, we think the best fuel for those PHEVs is the lowest carbon fuel—E85, and with our camel’s nose under the tent, we will keep making the case for standard hybrids (HEVs), fueled by E85, to also be inside the California tent. After all, Argonne National Lab’s latest GREET model shows the lowest emitting vehicle isn’t a BEV—it’s a grid independent HEV using E85. I can even ‘splain how that works, I have one! READ MORE
- Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV)Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV)
- Remove term: fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV)fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV)
- Remove term: electric car/Electric Vehicle (EV) Priceselectric car/Electric Vehicle (EV) Prices
- Remove term: Plug-in Flex Fuel HybridPlug-in Flex Fuel Hybrid
- Remove term: Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV)Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV)
- Remove term: Carbon Intensity (CI)Carbon Intensity (CI)
- Remove term: E85E85
- Remove term: GREET Greenhouse Gases Regulated Emissions and Energy Use in Transportation ModelGREET Greenhouse Gases Regulated Emissions and Energy Use in Transportation Model
- Remove term: CaliforniaCalifornia
- Remove term: California Air Resources Board (CARB)California Air Resources Board (CARB)
- Remove term: Regulations-StateRegulations-State
- Remove term: environmental policyenvironmental policy
- Remove term: Transportation Fuels Policy–StateTransportation Fuels Policy–State
- Remove term: Transportation Fuels PolicyTransportation Fuels Policy
- Remove term: SustainabilitySustainability
