Washington State will ban sales of new gasoline-fueled cars, trucks, and SUVs by 2035, Governor Jay Inslee announced.
With public input, the Legislature will consider details of the plan, with transportation accounting for 45 percent of Washington’s greenhouse gas emissions and 22% of its air pollution.
Washington is adopting regulations recently announced in California. The new law requires 100 percent of new vehicle sales in the state to be electric vehicles or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2035, with 20 percent of them allowed to be plug-in hybrid electric models.
Currently, there aren’t any specific regulations regarding transportation-based emissions in Washington State. However, the public will be able to weigh in on the issue. Emissions from transportation account for more than 40% of total greenhouse gas emissions in Washington.
A state council, established by Washington Governor Jay Inslee to plan for an electric vehicle future, has met for the first time. Members talked about building a network of fast chargers on state roads, saying they would be aided by $71 million from the federal government.
“This is a critical milestone in our climate fight. Washington set in law a goal for all new car sales to be zero emissions by 2030 and we’re ready to adopt California’s regs by end of this year.” Gov Inslee said in a tweet.
$69 million has been budgeted by the state Legislature to install “community charging” stations for people who don’t live in single-family homes.
Anna Lising, senior climate adviser to Inslee, expects the new rules to encourage automakers to produce more affordable electric cars.
Almost 20% of new vehicle registrations in Washington last month were either fully battery-powered or a combination of gas and electricity. 8% of the recent sales were full-electric.
104,000 new EVs (fully battery-powered or plug-ins) were registered in Washington last year, 2.5 times higher than two years ago. According to the Department of Licensing, there are around 4.7 million passenger vehicles in the state.
California’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) rules require automakers to produce at least 35 percent of their cars and light trucks as zero-emission vehicles by 2026, 51 percent by 2028, 76 percent by 2031, and 100 percent by 2035. By 2035, combustion-engine vehicles will be outright banned from sale.
The regulations don’t prohibit owners of gas-powered cars from using them after 2035, and the sale of second-hand gas-powered vehicles will still be allowed.
The new law marks a dramatic step in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat the climate crisis. Washington has already committed to a vehicle emissions reduction of 35% by 2026 and 68% by 2030.
To implement the new rules, Washington must invest significantly in expanding its public charging stations.
At present, there are 16 states (including California) that have adopted California’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) requirements, and two more states accept the low emission vehicle (LEV) rules for non-commercial vehicles. The 16 states make up around 40% of the United States car market. More states are likely to follow suit.
The U.S government recently approved an inflation reduction bill, focusing heavily on electric vehicle (EV) incentives. President Joe Biden has also signed an executive order to increase EV sales by 50%. The government plans to spend billions of dollars to help people buy electric cars and provide tax breaks for car manufacturers.
Volvo plans to have 50% of its sales fully electric by 2025, and it will only sell EVs by 2030. Volvo’s electric spin-off company Polestar has just announced its Polestar 6 electric convertible roadster is set to enter production.
Many other automobile manufacturers have also pledged to phase out internal combustion engines, including General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Mazda, Lincoln, Ford, Lexus, Toyota, Jaguar Land Rover, and Volkswagon.
55% of voters nationwide support a complete phaseout of gas-powered vehicles by 2030, according to research conducted by Yale University, George Mason University, and Climate Nexus research on behalf of Coltura.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, representing several large automotive companies, noted that meeting the new goals would be challenging because of the lack of electric vehicle chargers, battery materials, and supply chain issues.
