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America’s Biggest Car Market May Stomp on the Go Pedal for Zero-Emission Vehicles

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Electric Car charging parking spot

Photo: byronv2

California is unquestionably the electric-car center of the entire United States—due to its aggressive and powerful California Air Resources Board, which was established to clean up the horrifically polluted air of the nation’s most populous state, as well as strong executive support, California has pursued a policy of strong electric vehicle advocacy, including requiring automakers to sell a certain percentage of all-electric vehicles to be allowed to sell within its borders.

However, it seems that, as fast as California is taking to electric cars, it isn’t fast enough for Governor Jerry Brown, who recently outlined a plan to coax more Californians to switch to electron power (5 million of them, in fact) to the tune of a $2.5 billion budget. California’s roads currently support 350,000 zero-emission vehicles, so to meet goals like Brown’s target of selling 1.5 million of these vehicles by 2025, the sales would need to make up 40% of all vehicles sold in 2030, where right now it is a mere 5%.

Basically, the plan would do a few things. First, it would extend subsidies to help consumers buy emissionless vehicles, at a rate of $200 million in subsidies for each of the next 8 years. Then, since electric vehicles need more infrastructure, the plan would boost the current number of electric vehicle charging stations to 250,000 (from 14,000 now) and hydrogen fueling stations to 200 (from 31 currently).

All of this would work to help California reach its goal of radically reducing transportation pollution to 40% below the level they were in 1990 by 2030, a target which has already seen reduced emissions from green energy powerplants. However, due to the proliferation and popularity of crossovers and trucks on the market right now, transportation pollution has actually increased.

The plan is now subject to legislative approval.

News Source: Detroit News