Enjoy your HOV decal while you can ... the lanes will be very crowded soon
California will ban sales of gasoline vehicles by 2040 if upcoming bill passes
We know
California Democrats including Governor Jerry Brown are in favor of such a ban, and an end date of 2030 has been batted around. But getting anything on the books would be a victory for electric vehicles as auto companies have long lead times. Planning an extinction isn’t easy. California has already set a goal to cut carbon emissions by 80% of the 1990 levels by 2050. Achieving that would require replacing virtually all combustion by renewable energy in the state a decade ahead of the goal so the move wouldn’t be unexpected in the state. Indeed it might be necessary.
California Assemblymember Phil Ting, a Democrat who is chairman of the chamber’s budget committee, said he
plans to introduce a bill that, starting in 2040, would allow the state’s motor vehicles department to register only “clean” vehicles that emit no carbon dioxide, such as battery-electric or hydrogen fuel-cell cars. “Until you set a deadline, nothing gets done,” Ting, who represents much of San Francisco, said in a phone interview Tuesday. “It’s responsible for us to set a deadline 23 years in advance.”
Perhaps Governor Brown said it best: “Why China can do this and not California.”