Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
California Faces Automaker Backlash Over 2035 Gas Car Ban
Reuters logo
By Reuters
Published 5 hours ago on
April 28, 2025

People charge their electric cars at a Tesla super charging station next to an EVgo electric charging location in Carlsbad, California, U.S., March 7, 2022. (REUTERS/Mike Blake)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Major automakers want Congress to bar California’s landmark plan to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035 that has been adopted by 11 other states, warning the rules could begin impacting vehicle shipments in a few months.

The U.S. House of Representatives will vote later this week on legislation to repeal a waiver granted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under former President Joe Biden in December allowing California to mandate at least 80% electric vehicles by 2035.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai and other major automakers said in a letter released Monday car companies could soon be “forced to substantially reduce the number of overall vehicles for sale to inflate their proportion of electric vehicles sales.”

California Air Resources Board Rules Adopted in 11 States

The California Air Resources Board rules have been adopted by another 11 states, including New York, Massachusetts and Oregon accounting for about 40% of the U.S. auto market. The state did not immediately comment.

“Allowing these gas vehicle bans (something never attempted before in the United States) to proceed will increase automobile prices and reduce vehicle choices for consumers across the country at precisely the same time they are adjusting to the marketplace shock of 25% tariffs on imported vehicles and auto parts,” the group added.

One issue remains whether Congress can revoke the waiver using the Congressional Review Act. In March, the Government Accountability Office said the waiver cannot be repealed under the CRA, which only requires a majority of the U.S. Senate.

The U.S. House also plans to vote to block California from mandating new pollution standards and a rising number of zero-emission electric commercial trucks and another for California’s low-NOx, or low-nitrogen oxide, regulation for heavy-duty highway and off-road vehicles and engines.

California’s rules require 35% of light-duty vehicles in the 2026 model year to be a zero-emission model- a figure automakers say is impossible to meet given current sales – rising to 68% by 2030.

The state says the rule is crucial to meeting greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and cutting smog-forming pollutants. Some states like Maryland have delayed compliance with those rules past 2026.

California first announced a plan in 2020 to require that by 2035 at least 80% of new cars sold be electric and up to 20% plug-in hybrid models.

The U.S. Transportation Department is separately moving to undo aggressive fuel economy rules adopted by Biden.

(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin Paul)

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

More Than 100 Immigrants Detained at an Illegal After-Hours Nightclub in Colorado

DON'T MISS

Visalia Police Captain Charged With Embezzlement, Theft

DON'T MISS

Autopsy Confirms Gene Hackman Died From Heart Disease

DON'T MISS

Iran Proposes Meeting With Europeans Before Next Talks With US, Diplomats Say

DON'T MISS

Trump to Sign Order Requiring List of Sanctuary Cities, States, Official Says

DON'T MISS

Saudi Arabia and Qatar to Pay Off Syria’s Debt to the World Bank

DON'T MISS

Pakistan Defense Minister Says Military Incursion by India Is Imminent

DON'T MISS

Trump Administration Allows Temporary Sales of Summertime Higher-Ethanol Fuel

DON'T MISS

US Judge to Hear Harvard’s Case Over Trump Funding Freeze in July

DON'T MISS

Madera Man Arrested After Armed Robbery, K-9 Assists in Capture

UP NEXT

Visalia Police Captain Charged With Embezzlement, Theft

UP NEXT

Iran Proposes Meeting With Europeans Before Next Talks With US, Diplomats Say

UP NEXT

Trump to Sign Order Requiring List of Sanctuary Cities, States, Official Says

UP NEXT

Saudi Arabia and Qatar to Pay Off Syria’s Debt to the World Bank

UP NEXT

Pakistan Defense Minister Says Military Incursion by India Is Imminent

UP NEXT

Trump Administration Allows Temporary Sales of Summertime Higher-Ethanol Fuel

UP NEXT

US Judge to Hear Harvard’s Case Over Trump Funding Freeze in July

UP NEXT

Madera Man Arrested After Armed Robbery, K-9 Assists in Capture

UP NEXT

Huge Power Outage Paralyzes Parts of Spain and Portugal

UP NEXT

US Sanctions Target Deliveries of Oil and Gas to Houthis

Iran Proposes Meeting With Europeans Before Next Talks With US, Diplomats Say

2 hours ago

Trump to Sign Order Requiring List of Sanctuary Cities, States, Official Says

2 hours ago

Saudi Arabia and Qatar to Pay Off Syria’s Debt to the World Bank

2 hours ago

Pakistan Defense Minister Says Military Incursion by India Is Imminent

3 hours ago

Trump Administration Allows Temporary Sales of Summertime Higher-Ethanol Fuel

3 hours ago

US Judge to Hear Harvard’s Case Over Trump Funding Freeze in July

3 hours ago

Madera Man Arrested After Armed Robbery, K-9 Assists in Capture

3 hours ago

Huge Power Outage Paralyzes Parts of Spain and Portugal

3 hours ago

US Sanctions Target Deliveries of Oil and Gas to Houthis

3 hours ago

Putin Orders 3-Day Truce in Ukraine Next Month, Kremlin Says

3 hours ago

More Than 100 Immigrants Detained at an Illegal After-Hours Nightclub in Colorado

More than 100 immigrants suspected of being in the United States illegally were taken into custody early Sunday following a federal raid at ...

25 minutes ago

In this image taken from video released by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, officers stop a patron from a nightclub where a raid occurred Sunday, April 27, 2025, in Colorado Springs, Colo. (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration via AP)
25 minutes ago

More Than 100 Immigrants Detained at an Illegal After-Hours Nightclub in Colorado

Visalia Police Captain Luma Fahoum has been charged Friday, April 25, 2025, with embezzling nearly $50,000 from the department’s youth program and faces up to three years in local jail if convicted. (Tulare County DA)
1 hour ago

Visalia Police Captain Charged With Embezzlement, Theft

1 hour ago

Autopsy Confirms Gene Hackman Died From Heart Disease

A general view of Muscat, ahead of the awaited negotiations between U.S. and Iran, Muscat, Oman, April 25, 2025. (REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/File Photo)
2 hours ago

Iran Proposes Meeting With Europeans Before Next Talks With US, Diplomats Say

In his first hundred days in office, Trump has moved to strip legal immigration status from hundreds of thousands of people. On Sunday, the White House plastered across the lawnposters of people described as arrested illegal immigrants. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
2 hours ago

Trump to Sign Order Requiring List of Sanctuary Cities, States, Official Says

A market in Old Damascus, Feb. 26, 2025. The civil war has taken a huge toll on the country’s economy, with industries decimated and infrastructure destroyed. (Kiana Hayeri/The New York Times)
2 hours ago

Saudi Arabia and Qatar to Pay Off Syria’s Debt to the World Bank

A Pakistan flag is seen on Pakistan Rangers' Post near the Attari-Wagah border crossing near Amritsar, India, April 26, 2025. India has suspended visa services to Pakistani nationals "with immediate effect" following an attack on tourists near Pahalgam in south Kashmir. (REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis)
3 hours ago

Pakistan Defense Minister Says Military Incursion by India Is Imminent

Choices at the gas pump including ethanol or no ethanol gas are seen in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., January 29, 2020. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
3 hours ago

Trump Administration Allows Temporary Sales of Summertime Higher-Ethanol Fuel

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

Search

Send this to a friend