It’s only a day since we reported on California’s intention to outlaw sales of new combustion-engined vehicles from 2035, and already the ripples are being felt across the nation.
Both Washington and Masschusetts are set to follow California’s lead, and other states will surely follow. On Thursday, the same day the California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted new regulations that would phase out sales of fossil fuel-powered cars, Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced that the state would be following suit.
“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,” Inslee tweeted.
Like Washington, Massachusetts has laws that mean a ban on new ICE vehicles will come into force if CARB passes such a law, and multiple other states also take a lead from CARB’s emissions regulations. Those states are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, Ne Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington DC.
Related: Washington State Governor Signs Bill To Ban Sale Of ICE Cars By 2030
Though Washington (the state) already has over 100,000 electric vehicles on its roads, not everyone there is as enthusiastic as Governor Jay Inslee about following in California’s footsteps.
“I believe the market is best to continue to determine how we transition,” said Republican Andy Harris, who sits on Washington House’s transportation Committee. Harris thinks the forced switch away from combustion engines would be detrimental to both automakers and consumers, Fox Business reports.
California’s ruling wouldn’t mean a light-switch transition to zero-emissions cars in 2035, but would require manufacturers to gradually phase out ICE offerings so that more than two thirds of cars sold in the state would be zero emissions by 2030. Sales of used ICE cars will be unaffected, so there’s still plenty of time yet for combustion-loving Californians (and those in WA and MA) to get their kicks.
