Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Gabbard Revokes Security Clearances of 37 Current, Former US Intelligence Members

19 hours ago

Trump Escalates Attacks Against the Smithsonian Institution

21 hours ago

California Republicans File Suit Seeking to Block Newsom Redistricting Plan

22 hours ago

Revised Congressional Maps Target Valadao, Boost Gray in the Valley

23 hours ago

Dollar Slips as Traders Wait on Jackson Hole

1 day ago

Tesla Drivers Can Pursue Class Action Over Self-Driving Claims, Judge Rules

1 day ago

Trump Eyes Reclassification to Make Cannabis Easier to Buy and Sell

2 days ago

America’s Wildfire Fighters, Unmasked in Toxic Smoke, Are Getting Sick and Dying

2 days ago

US Offers Up to $50,000 Bonus for New ICE Deportation Officers

2 days ago
Will California Meet Newsom's 2035 EV Deadline? It Won't Even Hit the 2026 Target 
Opinion
By Opinion
Published 4 months ago on
April 27, 2025

Electric sales in California have hit a wall. The market share for all brands of zero-emission vehicles fell to 21.3% in the fourth quarter of 2024. (AP File)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

It was with brash confidence that Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that by 2035, the only new cars and light trucks sold in California would be emission-free.

Critics, rightly, suggested that he couldn’t reshape consumer choice and entirely reorganize the state’s auto fleet through an executive order, or a phony codification of the order by the California Air Resources Board. An upcoming target is surely going to be missed.

Kerry Jackson

Opinion

Before 2035, the state is supposed to hit interim markers. When 2030 rolls around, 68% of all new-car sales are to be zero-emission vehicles. The benchmark for 2026 – which is actually this year because the ‘26 models will arrive at dealerships in the fall – is 35%.

If total sales of new cars and light trucks in 2026 equal 2025 sales of 1.8 million, a number that ticked up over the previous two years, then to reach the 35% threshold, dealers will have to sell 630,000, a long haul from the 387,368 new electric vehicles registered in 2024.

It’s not impossible, but unlikely given the trends. Electric sales in California have hit a wall. The market share for all brands of zero-emission vehicles fell to 21.3% in the fourth quarter of 2024, which was down from 23.7% in the third quarter, according to the California New Car Dealers Association.

“Things aren’t looking so golden” even for Tesla, a longtime California favorite, says the CNCDA.

“Tesla’s dominance in the electric vehicle market continues to falter as the brand reported its fifth consecutive quarterly registration decline. Tesla’s registrations fell 7.8% in Q4 2024, contributing to an overall 11.6% decline in 2024.”

Tesla Sales Plunging Even Before Musk Joined Trump

Remember, these numbers were recorded before the political left, which presides over California, turned on Tesla when company co-founder and CEO Elon Musk joined President Donald Trump’s effort to downsize the federal government.

The electric vehicle slump has not been caused by a decline in overall sales. “New vehicle registrations among all brands remain stable,” according to the CNCDA.

Even with billions in federal subsidies, which in some instances have turned what otherwise would have been a $700 monthly payment into a far more affordable $400 monthly payment – and might be disappearing for good, further depressing demand – the market has grown cold.

Those who want electric vehicles have made their purchases. Some, of course, will continue to buy them, though many have buyer’s remorse. Nearly half, 46%, of U.S. electric vehicle owners say they plan to switch back to internal-combustion automobiles.

On the other side are those who’ve never had one, don’t want one, and can’t imagine ever buying one. Their reasons are many, and legitimate, from range anxiety to price to steep insurance premiums and repair bills to, well, resisting the edicts of bullying politicians.

The Headaches of Newsom’s Mandate

Newsom’s mandates will create headaches for both automakers and new-car dealers. In a decade, California dealer lots might be filled with electric cars they can’t sell because they’re unwanted, along with leftover gas-powered cars that will be in demand but no longer legal to be sold here.

In the intervening years, traditional vehicle sales might be so high that by the last months of the calendar year dealers cannot sell another one and still meet the electric quota.

Maybe carmakers and dealers will know just how many electric and gas-powered cars to ship to California to avoid future inventory problems. But “if they don’t hit the target, manufacturers will either have to drastically reduce the number of cars sold in California, or face a penalty of $20,000 per vehicle sold beyond the limit,” says Calibrate, a coalition of businesses, industry interests and consumer advocates that is asking for “a practical, balanced approach” to the EV mandate.

To avoid punishment, manufacturers might refuse to “ship new cars to California despite consumer demand.” Should that happen, buyers will surely cross the state line to buy the cars they prefer rather than be forced into models they don’t care for and might even resent owning.

Like so many other rash policy decisions made in California, the EV mandate should be scrapped. No one, not consumers, dealers, nor manufacturers, is ready for the trouble it’s going to cause.

About the Author

Kerry Jackson is the William Clement Fellow in California Reform at the Pacific Research Institute, a Pasadena-based think tank advocating free-market policy solutions. 

Make Your Voice Heard

GV Wire encourages vigorous debate from people and organizations on local, state, and national issues. Submit your op-ed to bmcewen@gvwire.com for consideration.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Trump Calls Netanyahu a ‘War Hero’ and Adds: ‘I Guess I Am Too’

DON'T MISS

Israel to Place $500 Million, US-Funded Order for Boeing Aerial Refueling Tankers

DON'T MISS

Hurricane Erin Threatens North Carolina’s Outer Banks With Storm Surge

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest 12 Drivers at DUI Checkpoint

DON'T MISS

Israel Approves Settlement Plan to ‘Erase’ Idea of Palestinian State

DON'T MISS

Considering TK for Your Child? Take a Peek Inside One Ideal Classroom Scenario

DON'T MISS

Trump Calls on Fed Governor Cook to Resign

DON'T MISS

Tulare County Authorities Arrest 17-Year-Old Gang Member in Terra Bella Stabbings

DON'T MISS

Tech Stocks Pressure Wall Street as Caution Sets in Ahead of Fed Meet

DON'T MISS

Most Americans Believe Countries Should Recognize Palestinian State, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

UP NEXT

Israel to Place $500 Million, US-Funded Order for Boeing Aerial Refueling Tankers

UP NEXT

Hurricane Erin Threatens North Carolina’s Outer Banks With Storm Surge

UP NEXT

Fresno Police Arrest 12 Drivers at DUI Checkpoint

UP NEXT

Israel Approves Settlement Plan to ‘Erase’ Idea of Palestinian State

UP NEXT

Considering TK for Your Child? Take a Peek Inside One Ideal Classroom Scenario

UP NEXT

Trump Calls on Fed Governor Cook to Resign

UP NEXT

Tulare County Authorities Arrest 17-Year-Old Gang Member in Terra Bella Stabbings

UP NEXT

Tech Stocks Pressure Wall Street as Caution Sets in Ahead of Fed Meet

UP NEXT

Most Americans Believe Countries Should Recognize Palestinian State, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

UP NEXT

Fresno Supervisors End Lease for Free Needle Exchange Clinic

Fresno Police Arrest 12 Drivers at DUI Checkpoint

29 minutes ago

Israel Approves Settlement Plan to ‘Erase’ Idea of Palestinian State

35 minutes ago

Considering TK for Your Child? Take a Peek Inside One Ideal Classroom Scenario

39 minutes ago

Trump Calls on Fed Governor Cook to Resign

47 minutes ago

Tulare County Authorities Arrest 17-Year-Old Gang Member in Terra Bella Stabbings

53 minutes ago

Tech Stocks Pressure Wall Street as Caution Sets in Ahead of Fed Meet

59 minutes ago

Most Americans Believe Countries Should Recognize Palestinian State, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

1 hour ago

Fresno Supervisors End Lease for Free Needle Exchange Clinic

15 hours ago

Porterville Police Make DUI Arrest, Issue 13 Citations in Weekend Checkpoint

15 hours ago

Trump Claims Powell ‘Hurting’ the Housing Industry in Latest Attack on Fed Chair

17 hours ago

Trump Calls Netanyahu a ‘War Hero’ and Adds: ‘I Guess I Am Too’

President Donald Trump praised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel as a “war hero” for ordering his country’s forces to bombard Iran...

12 minutes ago

President Donald Trump, together with Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense, meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for dinner at the White House in Washington, July 7, 2025. President Trump praised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel as a “war hero” for ordering his country’s forces to bombard Iran’s nuclear sites — and then said that the same label should apply to himself. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times)
12 minutes ago

Trump Calls Netanyahu a ‘War Hero’ and Adds: ‘I Guess I Am Too’

The Boeing KC-46 Pegasus aerial refueling tanker is seen before a delivery celebration to the U.S. Air Force in Everett, Washington, U.S., January 24, 2019. (Reuters File)
18 minutes ago

Israel to Place $500 Million, US-Funded Order for Boeing Aerial Refueling Tankers

A person stands by the beach during Hurricane Erin, the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season, in Avon-by-the-Sea, New Jersey, U.S., August 20, 2025. (Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)
25 minutes ago

Hurricane Erin Threatens North Carolina’s Outer Banks With Storm Surge

29 minutes ago

Fresno Police Arrest 12 Drivers at DUI Checkpoint

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and a woman hold a map that shows the long-frozen E1 settlement scheme, that would split East Jerusalem from the occupied West Bank, on the day of a press conference near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 14, 2025. (Reuters File)
35 minutes ago

Israel Approves Settlement Plan to ‘Erase’ Idea of Palestinian State

Inside a Concord California TK Classroom
39 minutes ago

Considering TK for Your Child? Take a Peek Inside One Ideal Classroom Scenario

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa D. Cook speaks at the Economic Club of New York in New York City, U.S., June 25, 2024. (Reuters File)
47 minutes ago

Trump Calls on Fed Governor Cook to Resign

A 17-year-old Porterville gang member was arrested on attempted murder charges after multiple people were stabbed in Terra Bella, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office said. (Tulare County SO)
53 minutes ago

Tulare County Authorities Arrest 17-Year-Old Gang Member in Terra Bella Stabbings

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend