New York To Phase Out New Gasoline Car Sales By 2035 

New York State will ban the sale of new fossil fuel-powered cars and trucks by 2035, after Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation to set a goal that all passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks sold in the state should be zero-emission by that year.

Under the new law, new off-road vehicles and equipment sold in New York are targeted to be zero-emissions by 2035, and new medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles by 2045.

New York thus became the second U.S. state to announce an end to new gasoline and diesel car sales by 2035, after California, which banned in September 2020 sales of new passenger vehicles with internal combustion engines from 2035 in the state's latest push towards a cleaner energy future.

If 100 percent of California's in-state sales of new passenger cars and trucks are zero-emission by 2035, this would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 35 percent and cut by 80 percent oxides of nitrogen emissions from cars statewide, the office of Governor Gavin Newsom said in September last year.

After signing legislation for New York State this week, Governor Hochul said in a statement:

"New York is implementing the nation's most aggressive plan to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions affecting our climate and to reach our ambitious goals, we must reduce emissions from the transportation sector, currently the largest source of the state's climate pollution."

The federal government also has ambitious targets for electric vehicle (EV) sales over the next decade.

Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order, setting a target to make 50 percent of all new vehicles sold in the United States in 2030 zero-emission vehicles, in a move supported by Detroit's Big Three.

The U.S. automakers—General Motors, Ford Motor, and Stellantis—are all investing billions in EV production in anticipation of a shift in buyer behavior, but challenges remain.

The Big Three issued a joint statement on the Administration's goal, announcing their shared aspiration to achieve sales of 40-50 percent of annual U.S. volumes of electric vehicles (battery electric, fuel cell, and plug-in hybrid vehicles) by 2030 in order to move the nation closer to a zero-emissions future consistent with Paris climate goals.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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