Photo: Tesla Owners New York
New York has banned the sale of gasoline-powered cars starting in 2035 as it seeks to reduce air pollution, and do its part in fighting the climate crisis. The new bill, which will make drastic changes in 14 years, was signed by Governor Kathy Hochul on September 8.
According to the new law, all sales or leases in New York State of new passenger cars and trucks—as well as off-road vehicles and equipment—must be zero-emission by 2035, Bloomberg Law reported. All new medium- and heavy-duty vehicles sold will have until 2045 to meet the goal.
“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,” Hochul said in a news release.
State agencies, in consultation with the NYS Department of Energy Research and Development, are required to develop a strategy for the development of a zero-emission vehicle market by January 31, 2023. The state will need to determine the actions and investment strategies needed for this transition.
In addition to signing the law, Hochul instructed the State Department of Environmental Protection to issue a proposed regulation that will reduce air pollution from trucks. The regulation will require truck manufacturers to switch to clean, zero-emission electric vehicles. A certain percentage of sales must be emission-free, depending on the weight class of the vehicle, starting in the 2025 model year.
“The best way to ramp up our fight against the climate crisis is to transition to new vehicles that are entirely free of carbon and other toxic emissions,” bill sponsor state Sen. Pete Harckham (D) said in a news release on Wednesday. “The devastation from Tropical Storm Ida proves, once again, that half-measures in dealing with climate change are of little benefit to us. We need to take decisive action right now.”
© 2021, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.
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About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
