California flicks the switch to EVs, banning the sale of ICE cars by 2035
As Australian EV sales struggle to hit one percent of our total car market, we are increasingly looking like the thick kid in the global corner with his thumb in his nose, as the world’s fifth-largest economy, California, announces it will phase out internal combustion engines on its roads by 2035.
Yes, California’s move is also somewhat at odds with large swathes of the country it sits in – as President Donald Trump has pulled America out of the Paris climate accord and worked to destroy or dilute emissions targets for the car industry – but it has long been a progressive state.
California Governor Gavin Newsom shocked everyone by ordering regulators to phase out “gas engines” and ban the sale of all gasoline-fuelled cars after 2035, an incredible pledge in a state that buys more than two million new vehicles annually. The state also currently accounts for around 15 percent of all gasoline sales in the United States.
“We’re facing a climate crisis,” Newsom wrote on Twitter. “We need bold action. CA is phasing out the internal combustion engine. By 2035 every new car sold in CA will be an emission free vehicle.
“Cars shouldn’t give our kids asthma. Make wildfires worse. Melt glaciers. Or raise sea levels.”
Keep in mind that Los Angeles, in particular, was infamous for its awful smog back in the 1980s and 1990s, but a focus on clean air, and reducing emissions from “autos” in particular, has seen a noticeable shift in air quality.
Governor Newsom said the California Air Resources Board (CARB) would develop regulations mandating all new passenger vehicles sold in the state be electric vehicles by 2035.
California is already in love with the EV as well, with the Tesla Model 3 becoming the third biggest selling car there, of any kind, behind only the Toyota Camry and Honda Civic, last year.
The economy of California is the largest in the US, with a US$3.2 trillion ($4.5 trillion) gross state product in 2019, and ranks fifth in the world, ahead of India, and behind Germany.
California joins more than a dozen countries, including France, Canada and the UK that have pledged to phase out the internal combustion engine in the coming decades.
“There’s an arms race going on here,” said Mary Nichols, chair of the powerful California Air Resources Board.
Governor Newsom signed the order on the bonnet of a new Ford Mustang Mach_E, and it was described as “a kiss of death for gasoline and petroleum, as California tends to be a trendsetter,” by Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at pricing firm GasBuddy.
Stephanie Brinley, an analyst for IHS Markit, described the move as “aggressive”, but said it should speed up the rollout of EVs in the US and globally.
“If it actually happens, it does create a reason and impetus to make change happen faster,” Brinley said. “If you have the opportunity for volume there, and you’re going to be able to sell the car, then you can put more money into investing and increasing your capacity faster.”
