California Bans the Sale of New Gasoline Cars After 2035

August 26, 2022 by Dan McCue
California Bans the Sale of New Gasoline Cars After 2035
(Photo by Michael Fousert via UnSplash)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Air Resources Board approved a sweeping measure on Thursday that prohibits the sale of new internal combustion vehicles in the state by 2035, a vote that some believe could dramatically accelerate the nation’s transition toward electric vehicles.

That’s because 14 states and the District of Columbia have already adopted California’s existing low-emission clean air standards, and 12 have already also adopted zero-emission vehicle standards.

In a handout explaining the new law, CARB said it expects these states to adopt the new California regulations “through their own rulemakings, gaining the clean air and climate benefits the regulation delivers.” 

“These states, along with California, constitute about 40% of the nation’s new car sales,” the handout says.

Dave Clegern, a spokesman for the board’s climate change programs told The Well News the new regulation will not actually take effect until 2026, when the existing air quality requirements for motor vehicles ends.

The new rules set out requirements that automakers deliver an increasing number of zero-emission vehicles each year beginning with the 2026 model year.

“Sales of new zero-emission vehicles will start with 35% that year, 68% in 2030 and reach 100% no later than 2035,” Clegern explained.

But don’t expect gasoline-powered vehicles to disappear completely by then. Under the new California regulations, anyone still driving a vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine in 2035 will be allowed to continue to do so for the life of the vehicle, Clegern said.

Lauren Sanchez, climate advisor to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, said as a result of the board’s vote, Thursday was “a huge day not only for California, but the entire world.”

And her boss, Newsom, told ABC News, “there’s nothing else that will move the needle on greenhouse gases more than tailpipe emissions.” 

But others said California may be moving too fast and could actually undermine its long-term goals with the policy.

Among this group was John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents large U.S. and foreign automakers.

“California today is about 18% EV market share and is leading the nation, which stands at 6.3% market share,” Bozzella said in an email to The Well News. 

“Despite this positive trend, California’s EV sale mandates are still very aggressive — even in California with decades of supportive EV policies — and will be extremely challenging. That’s just a fact,” he said.

 Why?

According to Bozzella, whether or not the new requirements are realistic or achievable is directly linked to external factors like inflation, charging and fuel infrastructure, supply chains, labor, critical mineral availability and pricing, and the ongoing semiconductor shortage. 

“These are complex, intertwined and global issues well beyond the control of either CARB or the auto industry,” he said. “What we’ve said to CARB and others is that getting more EVs on the road (a goal we unequivocally share and work every day to advance) must go hand-in-hand with other policies that together will ultimately determine the success of this transition.”

CARB says such concerns are more than offset by the environmental and health benefits of the new rules.

In its handout, the board says the regulation cleans the air and cuts carbon emissions, delivering particular benefits to those that live near roadways, commonly in disadvantaged communities.  

It breaks down the cumulative clean air and climate benefits from 2026‐2040 thusly: 

  • A reduction of 4,500 tons of fine particle pollution.
  • Reductions of smog‐causing pollution including 70,500 tons of NOx, 47,000 tons of reactive organic gases. 
  • Delivers a reduction of 395 million metric tons of greenhouse gases (CO2 and CO2 equivalent). That’s the equivalent of avoiding the emissions from the combustion of 915 million barrels of petroleum.

The state will also see: 

  • Smog‐forming emissions from passenger vehicles reduced more than 25% in 2037 (for attaining Clean Air Act requirements to meet federal air quality standards), and 
  • Greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles reduced by more than 50% in 2040, (compared to the baseline level if no regulation were in effect that year.) 

As for public health benefits, CARB says the regulation will result in avoided health impacts worth nearly $13B (cumulative from 2026‐ 2040) including: 

  • 1,290 fewer cardiopulmonary deaths. 
  • 460 fewer hospital admissions for cardiovascular or respiratory illness. 
  • 650 fewer emergency room visits for asthma.

While a number of international governments, including those of Great Britain and Canada, have set goals to phase out the sale of gasoline powered vehicles over the next two decades, none have gone as far as California has done with its new mandates.

“This regulation will set the global high-water mark for the accelerated transition to electric vehicles,” said Drew Kodjak, executive director of the International Council on Clean Transportation, in a tweet shared by the research organization.

The Biden administration has long been a supporter of California’s effort to tackle climate change.

Shortly after taking office, it restored a Clean Air Act waiver giving California legal authority to set auto pollution and mileage rules that are tighter than federal standards; this after former President Donald J. Trump had done away with that waiver.

It is that authority that allowed California to enact the new rule on Thursday. 

In the meantime, 17 Republican-led states have sued the EPA to revoke the California waiver, which would undo the new policy. 

That lawsuit will be heard before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, though no date has been set for oral arguments.

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  • California
  • California Air Resources Board
  • electric vehicles
  • internal combustion engines
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