At least eight states are planning to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars in the next decade – and others are considering joining them.
Only zero-emission vehicles can be sold in participating states beginning from the 2035 model year, according to the Advanced Clean Cars II legislation.
The rule, which was first adopted by California, means that automakers and dealerships would be banned from selling new gas cars in these states from that point onwards.
Americans will not be forced to take their gas-powered cars off the road, however, and will still be able to buy used and secondhand gas vehicles.
These states have gone further than the latest federal legislation announced last week, where the Biden administration released new rules to gradually phase out gas cars by 2032.
The new federal legislation requires automakers to reduce the tailpipe emissions of new vehicles by around 50 percent from model year 2026 to 2032.
In order to achieve this, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is targeting 35 percent to 56 percent of vehicles needing to be EVs by 2032, and 13 percent to 36 percent needing to be plug-in hybrids by that date.
It was initially proposed that two-thirds of all cars sold by 2030 would need to be EVs, but the brakes were put on that plan last week, giving a concession to carmakers and giving them more ways to comply.
But carmakers will eventually stop making full gas-powered successors to the beloved muscle cars of the 1960s and 1970s under Biden’s new edict.
For the time being though, Dodge announced earlier this month that the 2024 Charger will be available as a gas-powered muscle car as well as a new all-electric vehicle.
According to personal finance site Money, California was the first state to adopt the Advanced Clean Cars II rule, which will put a complete ban to new sales of gas-powered cars by 2035.
Would you ever buy an electric vehicle? Plans in the state, which is run by governor Gavin Newsom, specify that 35 percent of all new car sales will need to be zero-emission by 2026, rising to 68 percent by 2030.
Rhode Island was the most recent state to join the list of states pledging to ban the sale of gas-powered cars, joining Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington.
According to the site, the District of Columbia has also made the commitment.
Other states have adopted versions of the legislation, but not yet pledged to ban gas-powered cars entirely by that date.
For example, Delaware and Colorado last year finalized rules that would require 82 percent of new cars to be zero-emissions vehicles in 2032, but officials have not adopted 2035 bans.
New Mexico, meanwhile, announced in July that it will set annual targets for the sale of zero-emission vehicles and may adopt parts of the Advanced Clean Cars II legislation. But it has not yet endorsed the 2035 ban.