Eight states — California, Rhode Island, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington — and the District of Columbia are now on board with plans to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles within the next decade.
The plans to phase out the vehicles and switch to electric and hybrid vehicles come as the Biden administration continues to pursue its lofty climate goals in a struggling economy. The administration, for example, wants half of all new cars and trucks sold in 2030 to be zero-emission, despite sputtering EV sales.
All 8 of the states and D.C. have adopted the Advanced Clean Cars II rule, and will have an outright ban on the sale of new gas-powered vehicles after 2035.
California was the first to adopt the rule, aiming to have 35% of new vehicle sales emit zero emissions by 2026, and boosting that goal to 68% by 2030.
According to the California Air Resources Board, the regulation overhauls the state’s “growing zero-emission vehicle market and robust motor vehicle emission control rules and augments them to meet more aggressive tailpipe emissions standards and ramp up to 100% zero-emission vehicles.”
As noted by Money, the states’ plans to ban gas-powered vehicles have generally not required votes from lawmakers, but have been advanced with support from governors and environmental regulators.
The EV market has struggled in recent months, as highlighted by The Daily Wire. Ford, for example, had to cut 1,400 employees from its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, rolled back the planned production number of the electric F-150 Lightnings in half, and slashed $12 billion in EV investments.
President Biden, however, is not slowing down when it comes to targeting the gas-powered vehicle industry. Earlier this month, Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set new eye-popping regulations in an effort to increase the number of electric vehicles on the road.
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The new EPA rules set emission standards for vehicles made between 2027 and 2032 and would eliminate more than 7 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions, setting off concerns across the nation.
For example, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) railed against the EPA’s move, calling it both “reckless” and “ill-informed.”
“The federal government has no authority and no right to mandate what type of car or truck Americans can purchase for their everyday lives,” the senator said. “This reckless and ill-informed rule will impose what is effectively an EV mandate without ensuring the security of our supply chains from nations like China and without a realistic transition plan that addresses our domestic infrastructure needs.”