States Take Measured Approach to Adopting Clean Cars Rules

States originally aiming for the moon on getting new gas-powered cars off the road ended up taking baby steps this year in the transition to electric vehicles.

Seven new states adopted California rules known as Advanced Clean Cars II that will require manufacturers to sell an increasing number of zero-emission vehicles year-over-year, eventually eliminating the sale of new gas-powered cars.

But three of those states—Colorado, New Mexico, and Delaware—stopped short of California’s original standards that require 100% zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035, instead setting a goal of 82% clean car sales by 2032.

Environmental activists pushed for states to create programs that stretched to 2035, but when it comes to reducing emissions, they say a win is a win.

“We can still celebrate” because “this year has been a very big win,” said Kathy Harris, senior advocate for clean vehicles and fuels at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Besides, she said, some states, like Colorado, are required to reevaluate in a few years and decide whether to extend the program.

Proponents view ACCII as a way to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals and give buyers enough electric vehicle inventory as demand rises. Opponents, however, view ACCII as government overreach that would curb consumer choice and endanger the financial health of car dealerships by pushing shoppers elsewhere.

“To force dealerships to pivot from serving the needs and desires of our customers to structuring ourselves around pushing vehicles that are only guaranteed to line the pockets of people who don’t even live in our state is short sighted and poorly conceived,” one dealership in Maine, which will consider ACCII next year, wrote in comments to the state.

Some also worry that the country’s current infrastructure—charging networks, the electricity grid, and more—can’t support electric vehicle goals.

Infrastructure Worries

If adopted in 2023, Advanced Clean Cars II kicks in with vehicle model year 2027, giving state regulators time to plan for the expected influx of EVs on the road. Charging networks and grid reliability are two front-of-mind issues, said Chelsea Priest, air quality specialist in the Rhode Island Office of Air Resources.

Charging networks aren’t keeping up with the country’s current and projected EV sales, according to a recent report from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. The country has 140,171 publicly available chargers for around 3.7 million EVs on the road, according to second quarter numbers from the organization.

The $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program is already working with a first wave of more than two-dozen states to build chargers. Rhode Island on Dec. 20 became the latest state to announce construction on federally-funded stations. The state’s ACCII regulations were finalized the following day.

Public commenters in Maine aired concerns that the state’s grid wasn’t strong enough to support the amount of electricity needed to charge an EV.

But advocates say regulators and utilities have time to bulk up infrastructure, since ACCII will scale up slowly. It also only applies to new car sales, and the majority of people buy used vehicles, Harris said.

“We’re feeling really confident” about access to charging networks, especially since Maine is a top 10 state for EV chargers per capita, said Josh Caldwell, climate and clean energy outreach coordinator at the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

Tandem private sector cooperation is one of supporters’ main arguments for adopting ACCII. They say automaker commitments to phase out the production of gas-powered cars are pushing planners and utilities to get serious about installing chargers and upgrading grids, especially in overstressed areas like New England.

EVs are expected to capture more and more market share in coming years, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2023 Fuel Economy Report. In model year 2022, electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles composed 7% of production, up from 4% the previous year.

These vehicles are projected to reach 12% of production in model year 2023, according to the EPA. The numbers are promising. But no new automakers this year committed to phase out gas-powered cars, according to BloombergNEF.

Companies like Ford and General Motors, which previously pledged to stop making combustion engine vehicles by 2040, even pushed back their targets, citing worse-than-expected demand.

Who’s Next?

A few more states could join the thirteen that have adopted the standards over the last two years, but “most of the states that we would expect to be adopters” have already done it, said Geoff Crook, director of west state policy at Ceres.

Massachusetts, Colorado, Maryland, Delaware, New Mexico, New Jersey, and Rhode Island all formally adopted some version of the rules in 2023. They joined 2022 adopters California, Oregon, Washington state, New York, Vermont, and Virginia.

Maine, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C., were all expected to finalize ACCII this year. The latter still could—regulators didn’t respond to requests for comment on the timeline—but the former two states hit snags.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) withdrew the regulations from consideration in November due to lack of support from a key legislative committee. Legislators have promised to try to find another way forward, said Katie Dykes, commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy & Environmental Protection.

“The adoption of these standards is critical to empower Connecticut consumers, businesses, regulators, and utilities as the nation transitions to an EV future,” she said in a statement. “We are encouraged by the legislature’s commitment to taking action here, and we hope that they do.”

Maine was supposed to consider finalizing ACCII rules on Dec. 21, but the state’s Board of Environmental Protection canceled its meeting due to a winter storm. The state appears set to consider the measure in 2024, with a new public comment deadline of Feb. 5.

“This delay in Maine’s collaborative effort to tackle the challenge of climate change is deeply unfortunate,” Caldwell said in a NRCM statement.

Maine’s push to the next calendar year, even by a couple of months, means another year lost for ACCII. The federal Clean Air Act, which allows states to opt into California standards instead of less stringent EPA standards, requires at least two model years of lead time when a state adopts ACCII.

If Maine had adopted the standards this year, the regulations would have gone into effect in model year 2027. Now, model year 2028 is the earliest the program could begin.

“We really can’t afford to lose another year,” Caldwell said.