California Expected to Ban New Gas Car Sales by 2035, With Thursday Vote

California air regulators are expected Thursday to issue stringent rules to ban the sale of new gasoline cars by 2035 and set interim targets to phase the cars out.

The California Air Resources Board will vote on the measure Thursday afternoon, California Air Resources Board member Daniel Sperling told CNN.
Sperling added he was “99.9%” confident the measure would pass. If it does, it would be the first such ban in the US. It also could have major implications for the US car market, given how large California’s economy is.

The board’s new rule also would set interim quotas for zero-emission vehicles, focusing on new models. Starting with 2026 models, 35% of new cars, SUVs and small pickups sold in California would be required to be zero-emission vehicles. That quota would increase each year, expected to reach 51% of all new car sales in 2028, 68% in 2030 and 100% in 2035. The quotas also would allow 20% of zero-emission cars sold to be plug-in hybrids.

Thursday’s vote is the culmination of years of work; in 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order mandating that all vehicles sold in the state must be zero emission by 2035. California also got a boost from the Biden administration, which reinstated California’s longtime ability to set its own vehicle emission standards earlier this year. The Trump administration rolled back the California waiver in 2019.

Via – CNN