California air agency to ban sales of gasoline-powered cars by 2035 – By Camille Von Kaenel (Politico) / Aug 24, 2022
The state’s long-anticipated move is expected to transform the nation’s auto market.
California’s air regulator is poised to require all new cars sold in the state by 2035 to have zero emissions — a sweeping rule that could pave the way for other states to adopt the requirement, transforming the nation’s auto market.
The ban on new gas-powered vehicle sales — first announced by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom nearly two years ago — would also require automakers to make sure that 35 percent of all new passenger cars sold by 2026 have no emissions, a threshold that would increase to 68 percent by 2030. About 16 percent of new cars sold in California so far this year have zero emissions, significantly higher than the national average of 6 percent.
“This regulation is one of the most important efforts we have ever carried out to clean the air,” Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board, told reporters on Wednesday.
California has a special ability to set clean car rules under federal law, and typically sets more stringent and far-reaching rules than its federal counterpart. More than a dozen states are expected to adopt the zero emissions vehicle mandate soon, meaning the rule will cover roughly a third of the country’s auto market. That has the potential to make a significant dent in the amount of harmful greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, which currently surpass those from electricity.
