Sales of zero-emission vehicles in California slow down

The sale of zero-emission vehicles in California dropped in the first quarter of this year compared to the first three months of But at least one auto industry analyst noted the numbers could have been much worse given the uncertainty swirling around tariffs and the political rancor aimed at Elon Musk the CEO of Tesla the largest electric car maker in the country Related Articles Senate GOP leaders will try to block California bicycle standards that would phase out gas-powered cars Honda pulls back on EV strategy for now and will push hybrid sales Oakland airport adds zero-emission shuttle buses to fleet Autonomous automobile company Waymo cleared to operate in San Jose San Jose-based Archer Aviation s electric air taxis to ferry fans and VIPs to venues at LA Olympics And California policymakers insist the state s aggressive goals to transition from internal combustion vehicles remain on track California s clean wagon field continues to show strong sales and we are undeterred by this period of limited advance which is a normal anticipated part of the system adoption cycle California Air Guidance Board chair Liane Randolph reported in a message The California Capacity Commission announced registrations in the first three months of this year for zero-emission vehicles or ZEVs which the state defines as all-electric plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles That s down from units sold in the first quarter of It also marks the third consecutive quarter in which ZEV sales in the Golden State have declined function use strict window addEventListener message function a if void a statistics datawrapper-height var e document querySelectorAll iframe for var t in a input datawrapper-height for var r i r e i i if r contentWindow a source var d a input datawrapper-height t px r style height d The numbers are very flat announced Ivan Drury senior manager of auto insights at Edmunds com But all things considered still rather remarkable given how much turmoil there is in play when it comes to how people are doing economically politically and just all of the feelings in general that people have Lower ZEV sales were driven by a drop in registrations for Tesla vehicles Musk campaigned for Donald Trump in the presidential polling and ramped up his political profile by taking charge of the Trump administration s Department of Authorities Efficiency or DOGE Musk has made himself a lightning rod with opponents of the policies of Trump and Musk taking their ire out on the Tesla brand Responding to criticism that he was spreading himself too thin Musk last month declared I ll be allocating far more of my time to Tesla and spending fewer hours at DOGE Despite the downturn the Tesla Model Y remained the best-selling ZEV in California in the first three months of the year with registrations The Tesla Model still came in second with State administrators took a glass-half-full approach to the first quarter numbers The information shows Californians are still buying ZEVs in vital numbers strength commission chair David Hochschild revealed adding that of Golden State residents live within minutes of electric carriage charger Registrations for electric vehicles by carmakers besides Tesla grew in the first quarter and made up more than half of all ZEVs sold in the state Prospective consumers can now choose from any of zero-emission models up from compared to the same time last year The road to electrification in California is no longer being driven by a single brand it s being paved by choice announced a news release from Veloz a public-private nonprofit that works with the state to meet California s zero-emission truck goals Gov Gavin Newsom issued an executive order five years ago that mandates the elimination of sales of all new gasoline-powered voyager vehicles in California by And next year the first of a series of state-imposed targets will start rolling out Under standards passed by the Air Support Board at least of model year patron cars and trucks sold in the state must be electric vehicles plug-in hybrids or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles The numbers ramp up each year going to in and by At the same time the latest iteration of the federal budget bill crafted by House Republicans on Capitol Hill would largely phase out the tax break of up to for buyers of electric vehicles by the end of this year reducing the financial incentive for consumers to buy ZEVs In addition the House with Democrats joining Republicans passed a measure earlier this month that would repeal a longstanding federal waiver that allows California to enact bus emissions standards that are stricter than federal requirements The Senate is expected to cast its own vote later this month If anybody has a chance of making their goal it will be California Drury reported But it s going to be rocky for a while A coalition of groups called Calibrate which includes the California New Car Dealers Association wants the state to pause its ZEV mandate saying the annual targets through are unrealistic But state administrators have shown no inclination toward making alterations California earlier this month joined a multi-state lawsuit challenging the Federal Highway Administration and the Trump administration from withholding billions of dollars to expand electric car infrastructure The innovation we re seeing in the electric van space is good for various things but the greater part importantly it is good for populace healthcare Hochschild mentioned It s imperative we finish the job Top Selling ZEVs in California First quarter Tesla Model Y Tesla Model Honda Prologue Hyundai IONIQ Ford Mustang Mach-E Source Veloz California Vigor Commission