California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued an executive order requiring all new passenger vehicles sold in the state to be zero emission by 2035.
This means automakers would no longer be able to sell new vehicles with petrol and diesel engines in California. The order also doesn’t appear to make exceptions for eco-friendly vehicles such as plug-in hybrids.
That’s a radical step and the California Air Resources Board is now being tasked with developing regulations to ensure that all new passenger cars and trucks sold in the state have zero emissions by 2035. CARB will also be developing similar regulations for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles which will go into effect by 2045, “where feasible.”
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The governor’s office said the transportation sector is “responsible for more than half of all of California’s carbon pollution, 80 percent of smog-forming pollution and 95 percent of toxic diesel emissions – all while communities in the Los Angeles Basin and Central Valley see some of the dirtiest and most toxic air in the country.” They went on to say switching to zero emission vehicles would “achieve more than a 35 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and an 80 percent improvement in oxides of nitrogen emissions from cars statewide.”
While electric vehicles are more expensive than their petrol-powered counterparts, Newsom said “zero emission vehicles will almost certainly be cheaper and better than … traditional fossil fuel powered cars” by the time the rules go into effect. That’s expected to be true as companies are working to drive down battery costs and make electric vehicles cost competitive with petrol-powered models.
The rules will only apply to sales of new vehicles and governor’s office clearly stated the “executive order will not prevent Californians from owning gasoline-powered cars or selling them on the used car market.”
California is one of the largest markets for new vehicles in the United States and the move to go zero emissions will likely impact people in states far away. It will also affect automakers as it will push them to have a zero emission lineup.
