SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — California leaders are proposing a timeline that will ultimately result in 100% of new cars sold being zero-emission by 2035.
The California Air Resources Board suggested that by 2026, 35% of all new cars sold must be zero-emission. Then, by 2030, that number jumps to 68%. The final milestone is getting 100% of new cars sold to be zero-emission by 2035.
Dan Sperling is a UC Davis professor and is on the board and he says there are two main reasons for this timeline.
“This will be a dramatic reduction in greenhouse gases and a major reduction in air pollution,” said Sperling.
Next, the board will review the proposal and hear public comments on June 9. Then, it would be adopted in August and passed into law.
Sperling says there are many big hurdles to achieving this goal, but one of their main focuses is getting the public on board.
“But it’s really the consumer that has to decide they’re going to actually buy it. We can tell the car companies they should sell them but someone has to buy them,” said Sperling.
He says they’re trying to work with leaders to make sure the programs are in place to make this a reality.
“The state making a commitment that it will support this initiative, this transformation. What that means is incentives for people to buy the vehicles, it means making sure there’s charging infrastructure out there so it really is compelling to a consumer."
A recent SDG&E report details the infrastructure that would need to be implemented to make this happen in San Diego. The report said there are about 69,000 cars on the road in San Diego and just shy of 7,000 public charging stations.
But by 2030, an estimated 771,000 electric vehicles will be on the road and more than 155,000 chargers will be needed. This means San Diego needs to build more than 16,400 new public chargers every year to keep up.
Related: In Depth: Does San Diego have enough Electric Vehicle charging locations?
