California Will Ban All Petrol Cars By 2035

It’s a long road ahead.

The State of California has announced that by 2035, all new car sales will be electric.

Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom announced the goal two years ago, but new rules from the state’s pollution regulator makes the target law.

If they reach the goal, California will cut their vehicle carbon emissions by half.

The policy allows Californians to continue driving petrol cars after 2035 but prohibits the sale of new petrol cars.

California, the home of EV giant Tesla, currently leads the US in electric car sales, accounting for 43 per cent of all new electric vehicle (EV) sales, despite only representing 10 per cent of the auto market.

Within California, EV’s accounted for about 15 per cent of new car sales in the first half of this year.

 

Governor Newsom’s plan will need approval from President Joe Biden before it can go ahead.

But it’s expected Biden will approve the motion, given his support of EVs.

California also tends to be the leader of environmental policy in the US, because 17 other typically follow California’s auto-emissions standards.

Massachusetts and Washington State have already announced they plan to follow California’s lead.

There are also similar plans in the European Union and in Canada.

In Australia, things aren’t quite so promising.

In 2021, EVs only accounted for two per cent of all new car sales.

While California’s plan is ambitious, but there are a few roadblocks on the way.

California is the US’ third largest state, about twice the size of Victoria, and even though they have around 80,000 public charging stations, they need about 250,000 by 2025 to keep up with demand.

The state is also facing issues with its power grid.

As they move towards renewable energy, the grid is having a hard time keeping up with power demands, and it even ran out of power on the hottest days of August 2020.

The first speedbump they need to beat comes in 2026, where one third of new sales must be electric.

Companies not meeting this goal could be fined $20,000 USD ($28,750 AUD) per vehicle.

But the Governor is excited about his plan, especially after projections say it’ll bring a net benefit of $91 billion USD by relieving fuel costs for consumers.

But, with multiple roadblocks and forks in the road, their EV plan isn’t EZ.