California is further on the road to electric vehicle adoption than predicted a decade ago.
Governor Gavin Newsom announced last week that the state has approved cumulative sales of plug-in vehicles of 1.5 million units. That’s two years before the goal set by former California Governor Jerry Brown, to hit that number by 2025.
The tally comes from the California Energy Commission, which last week updated its figures for the first quarter. CEC reported that cumulative sales for battery electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell electric vehicles combined were close to 1.524 million, while battery electric vehicles themselves, the largest portion of which so far, is about 1,051,000 million.
So far this year, 21.2% of new vehicles sold in California are ZEVs—meaning mostly EVs and plug-in hybrids combined. Looking at battery sales alone, electric vehicles account for about 16% of the new light vehicle market.
Tesla Charger
Nationally, as the Department of Energy recently summed up, comparable sales of plug-in vehicles including EVs and PHEVs have grown by about 7% in 2022, with EV sales of 5.6%.
As the Governor’s office pointed out, citing advocacy group Veloz, California has more electric vehicles than New Hampshire has cars and more than twice as many electric vehicles as New Hampshire. Norwaywhich is often likened to the promised land of EVs.
It’s also important to note that fleets turn around slowly—especially in California, where vehicles don’t usually rust. According to the state, there are about 30 million light vehicles registered in the state by the end of 2021, with about 838,000 EVs in some form (not nearly all EVs sold in California are in California). ). But that’s almost 3% of all vehicles.
Audi e-tron, on the Golden Gate Bridge
California’s plan, detailed in 2021, works Compulsory electric vehicle sales by 2035, including longer range plug-in hybrids. It follows a 2020 executive order from Newsom that effectively kicked off this tightening timeline—and reaffirmed the state as a regulatory trendsetter. That has led to many other states adopting California’s mandate, but as pointed out, they’re not the only states. Top US states for electric vehicle registration.
The The EPA last month proposed new exhaust rules tighten fleet emissions standards and effectively match the electric vehicle levels California requires—even if the national code does not include the mandate.
The truck side is also monitoring California. The US EPA just last month proposed a plan that appears to be in line with California’s requirement that nearly half of all new heavy-duty trucks be zero-emissions by 2035—following a California statement. . duty for electric commercial truck to start applying in small numbers by 2024.
