No state adopts rules that force you to give up your gas car

Some states and municipalities have taken more aggressive action to combat climate change than the federal government. A common target of these measures is the gas car, which contributes a significant part of the greenhouse gases emitted each year.

A reader texted CHECK to ask how gas car bans affect people who already drive gas cars.

THE QUESTION

Are bans on gas cars forcing people to give up their cars?

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

No, gas car bans do not force people to give up their cars. A dozen states are banning the sale of all new gas cars for the next 12 years, but that doesn’t affect gas cars already on the road or the ability to drive them.

WHAT WE FOUND

At least a dozen states are adopting versions of a rule that would ban the sale of new gasoline cars by 2035. That law does not affect gasoline cars already on the road, the sale of used gasoline cars or new petrol car registrations.

The ban, called the Advanced Clean Cars II rule, requires automakers to increase the percentage of car sales that are “zero emissions” over the next decade, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) says. The rule says that by 2026, 35% of new cars sold must be zero-emission and by 2035 this figure must be 100%. Zero-emission vehicles include plug-in hybrids, battery electrics, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

CARB, which drafted the regulation, says it applies to automakers and only covers new vehicles. It does not apply to car dealers and does not affect existing petrol cars already on the road, “which will still be legal to own and drive”. According to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, used car sales also won’t be affected, and the state’s department of motor vehicles will continue to register gas-guzzling cars.

States that have adopted or are in the process of adopting this rule as of May 12, 2023 are California, New York, Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Virginia, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, and Maryland.

All 12 states are adopting the same rules that restrict the sale of new vehicles without banning individual ownership of gas cars. No state can make the rule more restrictive unless California does so first.

The Clean Air Act prohibits all states except California from adopting their own emissions standards for new cars. California can request a waiver to create its own standards from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which the EPA says is usually granted.

Once California has adopted new standards, other states may adopt those same rules, in whole or in part. An example of a state that has only partially adopted California’s rules is Colorado. Colorado is adopting California’s new standards until 2032, when 80 percent of new cars sold must be zero-emissions.