California voters shot down a plan to make electric vehicles more affordable for some residents, dealing a blow to Lyft and the EV industry alike.
Proposition 30 would have taxed residents making more than $2 million a year to subsidize electric cars and public charging stations as well as funded wildfire prevention programs. Even with just 41% of the votes tallied so far, the defeat was clear. As of Wednesday afternoon, some 59% of voters rejected the proposition.
The measure’s defeat comes as several states ready bans on gas-powered vehicles in urgent efforts to cut climate pollution.
Prop. 30’s primary backer was Lyft, which paid more than $48 million to support the would-be wealth tax. The measure’s opponents — which included Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom and venture capitalists Michael Moritz and Ron Conway — cast Prop. 30 as a “Lyft grift,” calling it a “scheme to further line the pockets of Silicon Valley tech billionaires.”
Yet, Prop. 30 did not include carve-outs for rideshare companies. It would have raised tens of billions of dollars to push down the price of electric cars for individuals, including drivers fo …
