The California Air Resources Board voted to stop selling new gasoline-powered cars in the state.
The binding decision will force most new cars and trucks sold in California to run on electricity or hydrogen in less than two decades.
Plug-in hybrid cars will be allowed to make up as much as 20% of new car sales after the regulation is phased in.
The executive order that led to the regulation was issued in 2020 by the California Governor. The requirements won't stop the sale of used cars in the state, but they will accelerate the transition to zero emission vehicles. 16 other states and Washington D.C. are looking to California to set stricter emissions standards.
The landmark policy lays out graduated requirements for California, mandating that zero-emission vehicles make up 32% of new car sales by the year 2020.
The state still has a long way to go before ridding its roads of overly pollutive vehicles.
Europe hit 22% of new plug-in sales in April, but California leads the US on the EV front. Some countries, including Norway, want to move faster than the EU.
GM and Volvo have already said they will go all electric in the future. Toyota has focused on hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
After all the sales requirements go into effect, gas-powered cars will still be accepted on California roads. A spokesman for the regulators said that it was not a ban. All new vehicle sales need to be electric by the year 2035. At that time, drivers with internal combustion vehicles can keep them.
The Sierra Club believes that the new requirements are more important than a ban. To restrict the sale of new gas vehicles because they are wreaking havoc on the climate and our health is basically the same thing.
The director of the Sierra Club's Clean Transportation for All campaign said that it was significant because it sent a strong signal that we needed to shift to zero-emission vehicles. It's common-sense to protect public health and take action against climate change.
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