Clean Cars 2030

Background

At the federal level, laws around conversion have now become mainstream policy; Kamala Harris wants all new cars to be electric by 2035, and Joe Biden has promised "rigorous new fuel economy standards aimed at ensuring 100% of new sales for light- and medium-duty vehicles will be electrified". Governor Newsom in California has issued an executive order directing the California Clean Air Resources Board to establish that all new cars and passenger trucks sold in California in 2035 be zero-emission vehicles. Although Washington law conforms to California on matters of gasoline composition and this California requirement is being proposed as part of that California provision, the Washington law proposal has many advantages over just letting California force action in Washington. First, the California path will require a Federal waiver. And, as a regulation, it has much less certainty than legislation. A Washington law would send a stronger signal to auto makers and the public.

A number of other countries have enacted rules to phase out new gas vehicles: 

• British Columbia passed the Zero-Emission Vehicles Act to phase in clean cars: 10% of new cars by 2025, 30% by 2030 and 100% by 2040.

• UK bans sales of most gas powered vehicles by 2030, bans sales of hybrid ICE by 2035

• France by 2040

• Netherlands requires emission free by 2030

• Germany bans vehicles with internal combustion engines by 2030

• Paris, Madrid, Athens, and Mexico City will remove diesel cars and vans by 2025

For a more complete list, see World Gasoline Phaseouts.

Policy in Washington State

In 2020, Nicole Macri introduced Clean Cars 2030, a bill that would require all new passenger and light-duty cars sold in the state to run on electricity or hydrogen, beginning with the 2030 model year. It is backed by Coltura, and gained the support of eight committee chairs in its first year. It was reintroduced in 2021, passed the House Transportation Committee, with an amendment that made it a goal and not a mandate. The reason that the bill was converted from a mandate to a goal was to allay concerns brought by NRDC and the Attorney General that there would be a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Washington 2030 legislation is preempted by the federal Environmental Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), which would in turn negatively impact litigation challenging California’s waiver authority under the Clean Air Act. The bill was passed by both House and Senate as part of HB 1287, which makes it goal and not a mandate.

HB 1287 has the following provisions:

• The State shall provide a mapping tool that provides locations and essential information of charging and refueling, in order for recharging to be deployed across the state in a transparent, effective and equitable manner.  It shall prioritize on-road transportation, and gather data that will useful in state transportation planning in the future. It will allow for planning that supports goals of environmental justice, so that recharging stations in disadvantaged communities are prioritized .

• Utilities are required to plan for conversion of transportation to electrical as part of their Integrated Resource Plan. The utilities must use the social cost of carbon when evaluating resource options.

• Building codes will be revised to require electrical vehicle charging capability in all new buildings that provide on-site parking for residential or employee parking (not required for mercantile.

• It establishes a transportation account to use for electrification.

• Clean Cars 2030 provision establishes a goal for the state that all new passenger and light duty vehicles registered after 2030 be electric. The goal becomes active when there is a road usage charge based on vehicle miles driven with at least 75% of the passenger and light duty vehicles participating. The reason that the bill was converted from a mandate to a goal was to allay concerns brought by NRDC and the Attorney General that there would be a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Washington 2030 legislation is preempted by the federal Environmental Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), which would in turn negatively impact litigation challenging California’s waiver authority under the Clean Air Act. 

HB 5192 makes new laws around public recharging stations. All stations must now

• clear mark costs of usage

• accept multiple forms of payment. Public recharging stations may not be available only to a club or to people who maintain money on account with the vendor. There must be a way for consumers who are unbanked, underbanked, or low-moderate income to pay.

• offer interoperability with different recharging standards

• parking at recharging stations must be marked as for recharging only

• parking at a recharging station without recharging is a parking infraction which will incur a fine.

• any data that the recharging vendor sells or intends to sell must be disclosed to the consumer

• the state may charge a registration fee for rechargers to cover costs of administration and enforcement

In the Media

• New York Times: Electric Cars Are Coming. How Long Until They Rule The Road?

• Wikipedia: Phase out of fossil fuel vehicles

• Survey of Global Activity to Phase Out Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles

• Why Washington Should Require All New Cars Sold in State to be Electric by 2030

• Newsom calls for California ban on new gas-fueled vehicles by 2035

• Washington Voters Support Transition to Electric Cars by 2030

• Carbon Brief, Fact Check: How Electric Vehicles help to tackle climate change. Good article on lifecycle emissions from vehicles in different locations.