California Considers Banning Fossil Fuel Car Sales In 2040

California's smog will clear up with 100% electric vehicles

California would ban the sale of new cars and trucks powered by fossil fuels in 2040 under legislation introduced on Wednesday in the state legislature.

As introduced, AB 1745 requires all new passenger vehicles to be zero emissions vehicles after January 1, 2040. For the purposes of the bill, zero emissions vehicles cannot produce exhaust emissions of any criteria pollutant or greenhouse gas under any operational mode or condition. The bill does not apply to large commercial vehicles (larger than 10,000 pounds) and does not apply to vehicles owned by people moving into California from other states.

The Bill puts a lot of faith in automakers to deliver new electric vehicles to take the gas powered ones’ place, stressing the number of options already available long before the proposed 2040 deadline:

California has set ambitious goals to reduce GHG emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. There are nearly 300,000 EVs on California roads today. In 2016, approximately 2.09 million new cars were sold in California, and 1.9 percent were EVs. Over 20 EVs are now on the market in subcompact, hatchback, sedan, luxury, and SUV/minivan models.