Colorado’s Air High quality Management Fee unanimously authorized a brand new Colorado Clear Automobile rule, which primarily follows California’s “Superior Clear Vehicles 2” rule however falls wanting setting a 2035 goal for 100% EV gross sales.

Final yr, California finalized a rule which might result in 100% EV gross sales for brand new autos by 2035. The rule targets rising percentages of recent EV gross sales between now and 2035, culminating in 100% ZEV and PHEV gross sales by that date.

On the time (and now) we famous that this timeline might have been sooner for California, given its standing because the main state in EV adoption within the US (and will in all probability stand to exclude PHEVs as nicely). However the California Air Assets Board reasoned that, by setting a extra lenient rule, different states might extra simply undertake the total rule, thus creating an even bigger bloc of states to push the auto trade within the path it must be shifting.

Thus far, a number of different states have adopted the rule, together with New York, Washington, Oregon, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Maryland. Washington has even performed one higher, setting a goal of 2030, moderately than 2035.

Colorado at the moment joined the listing, however solely adopted a partial implementation. The brand new Colorado rule targets 82% new EV gross sales of by 2032, which is in keeping with California’s goal for that yr, however doesn’t set targets for years past 2032. you possibly can see how these percentages line up within the charts under:

Whereas the vote was unanimous and principally tracks the California rule, environmental teams just like the Western Useful resource Advocates and Pure Assets Protection Council have been dissatisfied that Colorado didn’t undertake the total California 2035 rule.

Colorado has areas of exceptionally poor air high quality, notably within the Northern Entrance Vary, which is residence to Denver and its environs and is essentially the most populous space of the state. The realm is in extreme nonattainment of EPA air pollution targets and should act to cut back the lethal smog that has more and more plagued Colorado’s residents.

We coated this in one other story just lately about Colorado contemplating a ban on gasoline garden gear, one other vital contributor to poor air high quality. However ending fossil gas use for transport would have a a lot bigger complete optimistic impact on air high quality than eliminating gasoline garden gear would.

For its half, the state says that the 2035 goal will not be off the desk, it’s simply been kicked down the highway a little bit bit. Whereas Colorado has not but adopted the total rule, the CAQCC says it would contemplate full adoption of California’s ACC2 rule no later than 2029. Lets hope it does – or possibly, like Washington, it might one-up California and push the timeline a little bit sooner.