California will ban any vehicles that are powered by fossil fuels in 2040.
California is cracking down on climate change as a new bill introduced on Wednesday would forbid the sale of any new cars or other vehicles that use fossil fuels in 2040. The state legislature was championed by California Assembly member, Phil Ting, as part of a new initiative called Clean Cars 2040. Under this new law, any passenger automobiles sold after January 1 2040 would have to be zero emissions. This would mean that all cars sold after this date will be battery-electric or hydrogen fuel cars.
“We’re at an inflection point: we’ve got to address the harmful emissions that cause climate change.” Said Ting.
The electrification of transportation is paramount in ensuring that not only the environment but the people remain healthy, he added.
This law would be added to an existent goal set by Governor, Jerry Brown, for 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles in California by 2025. Ting states that California is doing nothing more than pursuing an idea that has been promoted by statesmen for years and that is the well-being of the environment and public health policies.
40 percent of California’s greenhouse emissions are caused by passenger vehicles that run on fossil fuels. The new law would supposedly disqualify any vehicle that is still powered by fossil fuels. However, there will be exceptions in place. For example, large commercial vehicles that weigh more than 10 thousand pounds would still be allowed to run on gas. New California residents who are moving from another state would also be exempt from the law, at least at the beginning.
While the new state legislation is still 22 years away, California already has an estimated 300 thousand electric vehicles registered, a good sign for Governor Brown’s 2021 prospects. In 2016 2.1 million cars were sold in California, and only 1.9 percent of them were zero-emission vehicles.
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