Follow this authorMegan McArdle's opinions

We’re rich enough that we’re often willing to pay something extra to make those choices cleaner and greener. But most of us aren’t that willing, which is why even Democratic politicians are frantic to keep gas prices from rising too high, never mind that costlier gas would obviously help reduce our emissions. Poorer people in other countries are likely to be even less willing to make those sorts of sacrifices for the sake of the environment.

So the best way to get everyone into electric cars is to invest in research and development for the technologies that will make them the clearly superior choice: better batteries (and renewables to power them), better materials, cheaper production methods. The second-best way is to build infrastructure, such as charging stations, that will make it easier for consumers to choose EVs — and therefore for companies to invest in designing and building them.

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The worst way is to just mandate that companies sell them, which is what the Environmental Protection Agency is doing with its new emissions standards. For automakers to meet them, all-electric vehicles will have to account for at least 56 percent of new cars sold in 2032, with plug-in hybrids accounting for an additional 13 percent.

This won’t make foreign consumers want to adopt them; indeed, it relieves automakers of the need to make a car that can entice consumers on its own. Yet it also risks a political backlash that actually slows the pace of adoption, if consumers revolt against a technology that’s not ready for prime time. Worryingly, these regulations dropped just as dealers were warning that EV sales — which had been accelerating nicely last year — were slowing down.

It turns out there’s a big difference between selling an EV to a gung-ho early adopter and getting everyone else to make the switch from gas. Early adopters tend to be affluent and thus can afford the higher sticker price and insurance costs. So affluent, in fact, that most of those early adopters also own a gas-powered vehicle, which helps allay one of the most pressing concerns people have about buying an EV: “How do I charge it?”

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Charging is a snap if you own a single-family home with a garage, can afford to have a fast home........

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