California Governor Gavin Newsom announced this week that he signed an executive order to ban the sale of new cars with an internal combustion engine beginning in 2035. Newsom says the act “will aggressively move the state further away from its reliance on climate change-causing fossil fuels while retaining and creating jobs and spurring economic growth.”
According to the official announcement, “The transportation sector is responsible for more than half of all of California’s carbon pollution, 80 percent of smog-forming pollution and 95 percent of toxic diesel emissions.” The state is reportedly the second-largest consumer of gasoline (after Texas,) and makes up 1% of the world’s global oil demand.
The timeline for the start date appears to be strategic; Newsom’s office says they believe that by the time the new rule goes into effect, zero-emission vehicles will “almost certainly” be cheaper and better than the traditional fossil fuel-powered cars.
California might the first in the U.S. to make such a statement, but reportedly at least 11 other countries have similar goals, including Britain, India, and China, according to a 2017 report by CNN Business.
The California announcement is the latest in a series of moves driving the west coast toward a commitment to electric vehicles; earlier this year, utilities and state agencies in California, Oregon, and Washington announced a plan to transform highway infrastructure into a self-proclaimed “electric highway,” in a 185-page report that calls for “electrifying main shipping routes across the region by installing charging stations for freight trucks.”
