California seeks to end sales of gasoline cars, trucks by 2035

LOS ANGELES, California: Reuters has reported that California is seeking approval from the the Biden administration to require all new vehicles sold in the state by 2035 to be either electric or plug-in electric hybrids.

The California Air Resources Board, which approved the state's plan in August, asked the Environmental Protection Agency to approve a waiver under the Clean Air Act to implement its new rules, which would end the sales of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035.

"These vehicles will permanently displace emissions from conventional vehicles," wrote Executive Officer Steven Cliff, adding that motor vehicles are the greatest source of emissions in California.

The Biden administration has previously refused to approve any phase-out of the sale of gasoline-only vehicles.

"As with all waiver requests from California, we will follow an open public process in considering it, as the agency routinely does," said EPA spokesperson Tim Carroll, as quoted by Reuters.

By 2037, California's proposed zero-emission rules aim to cut smog-causing pollution from light-duty vehicles by 25 percent. It also requires 35 percent of the new cars sold be plug-in hybrid electric, electric or hydrogen fuel cell by 2026, and that proportion will rise to 68 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2035.

More states are adopting California's electric vehicle rules, which are more stringent than the proposal of the Biden administration, with Rhode Island joining Washington, Virginia, Vermont, Oregon, New York and Massachusetts in duplicating the California requirements earlier this month.