California plans to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars and trucks from 2035 as the state switches to electric vehicles to cut climate-warming emissions, Governor Gavin Newsom said.
The move is the most significant so far by any state to phase out the use of fossil fuel-fueled internal combustion engines. California has a “firm goal” to phase out sales of new gasoline vehicles by 2035, Newsom said. True, it also has a broader goal – to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% compared to 1990 levels by 2050, but in recent years, emissions from transport have increased. Automakers were skeptical about the governor’s statements. A group of them, including General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen, said that “neither orders nor bans create successful markets.” They noted that electric cars account for less than 10% of new car sales in California, the best in the country.