A U.S. Senate vote to repeal California’s Advanced Clean Car Act rule will have near-term benefits for New Jersey businesses and residents, NJBIA President and CEO Michele Siekerka told NJ101.5 Morning Host Eric Scott on Friday morning.
The California rule, which the Murphy administration had chosen to adopt, would have banned the sale of all new gas powered cars by 2035.
But there were also specific electric vehicle targets New Jersey needed to achieve starting next year on the way to the 2035 mandate.
“By next year 2026, if that mandate was in place, we would have had to have 43% of New Jersey car sales be EVs,” Siekerka told Scott. “And currently, we're only at 14% car registrations in New Jersey that are EVs.
“So that number was nowhere near achievable. And think about this: Manufacturers who couldn't meet the mandate would be fined thousands of dollars in penalties per car for not making those targets.”
Both Congressional houses have now passed a Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn the Biden-era EPA waiver authorizing California’s Advanced Clean Cars II ban on sales of new gas, diesel and traditional hybrid vehicles.
The resolution now goes to President Trump’s desk for signing.
Ending EV mandates in the United States was a Day One promise by the president.
With the California waiver overturned, all states will presumably need to conform to the EPA standard – which is less stringent but also sets emissions targets that will require EV mandates.
It also anticipated, however, that the EPA under the Trump administration will work with auto manufacturers and the business community to update the EPA standard.
Siekerka said New Jersey’s EV mandate was not feasible due to a lack of affordability and infrastructure.
“Folks need to be able to buy the type of car that they can afford,” Siekerka told Scott. “And anyone can go right now on the market and price an EV and decide if they want to make that purchase and that investment or not.
“And when you make that decision, there's a lot of things to take into consideration You need to make sure that you can charge that EV.
“Now it's one thing to know that maybe there are public charging stations or there's another thing if you own a home where you can put a charging station right in your garage. But what if you live in a densely populated place in a high rise? You can't have 50 or 500 people charging their cars in a high rise in the middle of Newark. We just don't have the infrastructure to do that.”
Gov. Phil Murphy, nor his administration, have not yet commented on the overturn of the ACCII rule. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he will take legal action to challenge the repeal.
