EPA Approves Waiver for California’s Zero-Emissions Cars and Cleaner Trucks Standards

Today, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the Clean Air Act waiver for California’s zero-emissions car standard, the Advanced Clean Cars II rule. The standard passed by the state in 2022 will gradually shift car sales in California to zero-emissions models — meaning battery-electric, hydrogen fuel cell, and plug-in hybrid cars — by 2035. In the big picture, this means that accounting for average vehicle lifespan, cars on the road in California will largely be zero-emissions a generation from now in the 2050s.

The EPA also approved the Clean Air Act waiver for the Heavy-Duty Omnibus rule, which will significantly reduce smog-forming nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions from new heavy-duty trucks. In the big picture, the rule will deliver critical health benefits to people affected by the worst polluters on the roads: large diesel trucks.

“This might read like checking a bureaucratic box, but EPA’s approval is a critical step forward in protecting our lungs from pollution and our wallets from the expenses of combustion fuels,” said Paul Cort, director of Earthjustice’s Right To Zero campaign. “The gradual shift in car sales to zero-emissions models will cut smog and household costs while growing California’s clean energy workforce. Cutting truck pollution will help clear our skies of smog. EPA should now approve the remaining authorization requests from California to allow the state to clean its air and protect its residents.”

Many countries, including Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the 27 countries of the European Union, have policies in place to get to zero-emissions car sales by 2035 or sooner. Norway is set to reach its goal of selling only zero-emissions cars next year, and electric cars already outnumber combustion cars on Norway’s roads.

Transportation is California’s largest source of air pollution and its noxious smog problem that dates back decades. The Advanced Clean Cars II standard will usher in immense clean air and health benefits for Californians, preventing up to 7,406 premature deaths from air pollution by 2050 and delivering $194 billion in health and economic benefits.

California’s shift to zero-emissions car sales is expected to reduce costs for Californians while also helping to make electric vehicles more accessible by bringing purchase prices down over time. It is already cheaper to power an electric vehicle (EV) in every state in the U.S. than a gas-powered vehicle, but the shift to electric vehicles will also save Californians on maintenance and repair costs. Electric vehicles typically cost half as much to maintain and repair as their gas-powered counterparts, according to Consumer Reports. That’s important because transportation is the second largest expenditure for American households after housing, and ahead of spending on food and retirement.

California enjoys the highest electric vehicle adoption rate in the U.S. and has the largest clean energy economy with over half a million clean energy jobs. Over a quarter of new car sales in California were zero-emissions last year, with some cities seeing even higher adoption rates. One in three cars sold in the Bay Area’s nine counties in the last quarter was a zero-emissions model.

California also has ambitious goals to build the charging infrastructure for its zero-emissions vehicles. The state currently plans to build the infrastructure to support 1.5 million zero-emissions vehicles by 2025, meaning 250,000 charging stations with 10,000 of those being direct current fast chargers.

Nearly 50 years ago, Congress protected California’s right to adopt standards more protective than the federal government’s regulations in order to address the state’s air quality crisis. After EPA grants a waiver for California’s regulations, other states whose air quality violates federal standards can then adopt California’s more protective regulations for the health of their own residents. So far, 11 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Advanced Clean Cars II regulation under this mechanism in the Clean Air Act.