Readers may remember the declaration by California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, last year urging the Golden State to transition to electric vehicles by 2035. Despite he and 11 other governors lobbying Biden to phase out fossil fuels by that year, reality is smacking down the idea that electric vehicles can replace gas-powered ones.

According to Business Insider, a study published in the journal Nature Energy by scientists at the University of California Davis, researchers surveyed electric car owners over a period of 6 years. Their findings show that about 1 in 5 went back to gas-powered cars.

The reason? Convenience. Most of the 14,000 electric car owners surveyed said charging the batteries took too long, they lacked access to chargers at home or at work, and the ones available are inadequate at times. There were economic factors that played a role too.

According to Anthropecene, the ones who surrendered their electric cars lived in smaller homes that didn’t need many vehicles. They were also younger, didn’t earn as much, were renters, tended to be female, and not live in single family dwellings. The vehicle brand also made a difference as well. Fiat owners gave up their cars at higher rates than people who owned Teslas.

Let’s also not forget about the short life span of the lithium used in the construction of the electric vehicle batteries and that child labor is still used to mine the mineral in the Congo where lithium is abundant. None the less, despite his continuous caving to the Jacobin wing of his party, hopefully Biden will not go along. Gavin Newsom’s challengers should make the governor’s executive order among the issues raised or highlighted during the recall vote.