Sacramento, California – California air regulators voted Thursday to agree to strict rules that would ban the sale of new gasoline cars by 2035 and set interim targets for the phase-out of cars.
This action is a historic one in the United States, and it would be one of the first to be banned worldwide. It has significant implications for the US auto market, given the size of California’s large economy and that several states are expected to implement similar rules.
“This is critical,” Daniel Sperling, a member of the California Air Resources Board, told CNN. “This is the most important thing that CARB has done in the last 30 years. It’s important not just for the state of California, but it’s important for the country and the world.”
The new board rules will also set temporary quotas for zero-emissions vehicles, with an emphasis on new models. Starting with 2026 models, 35% of new cars, SUVs, and pickups sold in California are required to be zero-emissions vehicles. This share will increase each year and is expected to reach 51% of all new car sales in 2028, 68% in 2030 and 100% in 2035. The quotas will also allow 20% of zero-emissions cars sold to be plug-in hybrids.
The rules will not affect used vehicles, allowing them to remain on the roads. Sperling said the rules will not be immediate and will take effect in 2026.
Several countries are expected to follow suit. Already, 15 states including Colorado and Minnesota, as well as states in the Northeast and West Coast, have followed California’s previous zero-emissions vehicle regulations.
Alex Stack, a spokesman for California Governor Gavin Newsom, said California does not have an exact count of how many states will adopt the 2035 ban on new gas vehicle sales, but expects that “the majority of states will follow suit.”
Officials in New York, Oregon, Washington and Rhode Island confirmed to CNN that they plan to adopt California’s rule through their rule-making process, while New Jersey and Maryland officials have said they are reviewing California’s decision. Public comment in Washington state on a similar plan will begin on September 7.
“This is a milestone in our fight for climate, which is why Washington is preparing to put in place these same requirements by the end of the year,” Washington Governor Jay Inslee told CNN in a statement. “We look forward to partnering with other nations and the Biden administration to rapidly reduce the nation’s major source of greenhouse gas emissions.”
New York State Conservation Commissioner Basil Segos told CNN in a statement that California’s vote Thursday “opens New York’s ability to adopt the same regulation.”
If most of these states follow California’s lead, Sperling said, a transformation could occur in the US auto industry.
“This is a big part of the US market,” Sperling said. “Even if the Fed does not act from a regulatory perspective, a large part of the country will move forward.”
Sperling added that the process of drafting the rules has received “a surprising bit of controversy” and backtracking from car companies, suggesting that the companies themselves are embracing the transition to zero-emissions vehicles. Several companies including Ford and GM have announced ambitious plans to move toward zero-emission cars, trucks and SUVs.
“Car companies see what’s happening in China and Europe,” Sperling said. “Many of them have already made announcements about how they are going completely electric.”
Thursday’s vote is the culmination of years of work. In 2020, Newsom signed an executive order mandating that all vehicles sold in the state be emission-free by 2035.
“What these new standards do is they lay out the roadmap for getting there,” California Governor Eleni Konalakis told Kate Bolduan on Thursday.
California also got a boost from the Biden administration, which reinstated California’s longstanding ability to set its own vehicle emissions standards earlier this year. The Trump administration backtracked on ceding California in 2019.
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