The electric vehicle policies sweeping the nation and the states pushing back
Eden Villalovas
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California remains the undisputed leader in electric vehicle sales, with 2022 reports pointing to over 1.5 million sold in the past decade. This trend is expected to continue as the state has made recent ambitious regulations for promoting clean energy.
However, many are unconvinced that electric vehicles are the solution to our environmental crisis, pointing to possible economic and environmental challenges that come with strict mandates.
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Here’s a breakdown of California’s role in influencing the rest of the nation concerning EV regulations and a look at the states pushing back against the ever-changing updates to green transportation.
California hits EV sale goals two years early
California has been working to promote electric vehicles to improve their air quality, which has a history of falling below standards.
“Zero emissions is a really big part of our strategy because without reducing those final amounts of emissions from the individual vehicles, we’re not going to improve the air quality that we have,” John Swanton, from the Office of the Chair for California Air Resources Board, told the Washington Examiner.
Like many states, California offers incentives to those who purchase electric vehicles, specifically through the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project. It offers rebates from $1,000 to $7,500 for those who buy or lease new zero-emission, electric, fuel cell, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
These efforts have resulted in the Golden State achieving its goal of selling 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles in the state by 2025, signed in 2012 by former Gov. Jerry Brown two years early. As of March, there have been 1,523,966 electric vehicles sold since 2011, according to California Energy Commission data.
California’s history as a clean energy vehicle leader
California has set precedents for the nation to move toward greener energy, starting with pushing for zero-emission mandates and similar policies that paved a path for electric vehicle plans.
However, experts believe the state still has a long way to go to achieve healthier air quality for residents.
“I mean, we’ve made great progress, but the recent American Lung Association report card pointed to California, and it’s still the worst air quality in the nation,” Swanton said. “So we have some of the worst areas. We have some of the largest populations that are breathing unhealthy air.”
Swanton, who has been with CARB for around three decades, pointed to the lung association’s “State of the Air” 2023 report card, which showed that California and other Western states have unhealthy air quality due to climate change, finding that 9 in 10 Californians live with polluted air.
California passed the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate in 1990. It was the first of its kind in the world to demand automakers to manufacture a specific percentage of zero-emission vehicles in the state.
In 2004, California implemented the Clean Car Standards, which set emission standards for passenger cars and light trucks. The legislation was the first in the nation to adopt standards for automakers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and carbon dioxide produced by vehicles. The regulation was phased out over the years until reaching the full goal by 2016.
In 2012, the Golden State introduced amendments to these Low-Emission Vehicle policies, known as LEV III, which is part of CARB’s Advanced Clean Cars program, marking the most stringent update since 2004. This was the first legislation to require automakers to produce a certain number of electric vehicles, with the projection of 15.4% of new sales in California to be electric vehicles.
In 2018 the Innovative Clean Transit program was adopted, mandating that all public transit agencies transition to 100% zero-emission bus fleets by 2040.
The Advanced Clean Trucks rule was introduced in 2020, requiring all manufacturers of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to sell an increasing number of zero-emission trucks, with the goal of reaching 100% by 2045.
Advanced Clean Cars II was proposed by CARB in 2022. It is considered to be the most ambitious regulation to date because it is the first time new vehicle sales will be required to be 100% zero emission. The goal for full compliance is set for 2035, and it includes fuel cell electric vehicles, battery electric vehicles, and hybrid electric vehicles.
The regulation was fully passed by CARB in August 2022, and it was approved by California’s Office of Administrative Law in November 2022. However, the regulation is not enforceable until the state receives a waiver from the Environment Protection Agency, but that is expected to be sent shortly.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s role
The Biden administration has proposed demanding regulation with the EPA following California’s clean cars II rule. The plan, released April 12, would require automakers to lower emissions from cars and light trucks by 10% per year through 2026.
The proposal differs from California’s mandate by not requiring zero-emission vehicles to make up a percentage of sales, but the total amount of cars that an automaker sells each year would have to be in line with the emission standard. This compels automakers to produce enough electric vehicles to stay under the emission standard limit.
David Stevenson, Director of the Center for Energy Competitiveness for the Caesar Rodney Institute, a conservative Delaware-based think tank, told the Washington Examiner, “I certainly don’t think the EPA should be supporting that, although they are. They actually kind of kick-started Delaware’s efforts by requiring a new state implementation plan of how they were going to make air pollution standards, and that’s what started our air quality division looking at this in the first place.”
Other states to follow suit
Fourteen states have adopted California’s vehicle standards as of 2022 under Section 177 of the federal Clean Air Act. Those states are New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Washington, Oregon, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Colorado, and Minnesota.
Minnesota is among the most recent to uphold California’s rule, becoming the first Midwestern state to do so. A Minnesota appeals court upheld the state’s commitment to following the West Coast regulations in January of this year.
Many of the states that have adopted the 2012 clean car rule are also paving the way to follow the most ambitious regulations from the state, from Advanced Clean Cars II, setting 2035 as a target date for a full transition to zero-emission vehicles. Some of these states include New York, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington.
Delaware is among the most recent states pushing to follow the 2035 standard proposed by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Resources in 2022.
“Since 2015, Delaware has managed several successful incentive programs to encourage residents and businesses to switch to clean transportation alternatives,” DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin said in a press release. “In tandem with the electric transportation infrastructure investments being made by the state, ZEV will help provide momentum to our transition to an electric transportation future.”
The opposing side
Red states and Republican leaders have advocated against electric vehicle mandates for several reasons. Some are skeptical of the environmental benefits, while others believe the benefits outweigh the high costs to consumers and destruction to the economy.
Many states have been less supportive of electric vehicles as some lawmakers push to create restrictive measures for electric vehicles.
GOP leaders from Delaware have made headlines for pushing back against the Democrats and the DNREC move to follow California’s newest regulations.
“We did a formal survey; we had a scientific survey done of people who had voted in the last two elections,” Stevenson said, referring to a phone survey done by Ragnar Research. “And it mirrors the Delaware population by county, income, sex, race, all of that, and we got back that 73% of Delaware voters do not want this regulation.”
Stevenson said the comments from the survey confirmed that people did not want the EV regulation due to the high price of the cars and limited charging stations.
“You could have gasoline vehicles that are very inexpensive to get into on the front end, and over their lifetime, they can be rather expensive to maintain,” Swanton said when asked what the rebuttal is to those arguing costs are too high for electric vehicles. “Electric and hydrogen types of vehicles, you can have those that have a higher upfront cost, and then you have a very good maintenance profile going out for the rest of the vehicle’s lifetime.
Some states, like Oklahoma. have opted to lower incentives for electric vehicles for consumers. Senate Bill 1267 was introduced in 2021. It aimed to stop a 50% tax credit on electric vehicles and failed in the committee.
Wyoming state legislators proposed a ban on the future sales of new electric vehicles in a bill titled “Phasing out new electric vehicle sales by 2035,” but the resolution halted in the committee at the beginning of February.
“I don’t like to look at this as a political issue,” Swanton said. “This is really an issue of there is an environmental problem and a health problem associated with what vehicles do or combustion vehicles do. There’s cost problems with all types of vehicles right now.”
Looking to the future
“In California, it’s something that we are making a lot of effort to accelerate the market, but the market is also accelerating on its own, just by people looking at this technology and seeing what the positive parts of it are,” Swanton said.
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Electric vehicles are becoming increasingly popular as states move toward environmental consciousness and the Biden administration pushes for green transportation. As technology advances, the rest of the nation watches as California continues to expand regulations.
“And that’s something that is happening across the country,” Swanton added. “There are areas that have less drivers than we do here in California, and acceptance or adoption of technology is also something that’s growing. And a lot of that’s due to the positive attributes of the vehicle.”