WASHINGTON, DC – Alliance for Automotive Innovation released the following statement after the Senate passed H.J. Res. 88 to reverse the Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of a waiver to California and 11 states to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
John Bozzella, president and CEO Alliance for Automotive Innovation said:
“The fact is these EV sales mandates were never achievable. Automakers warned federal and state policymakers that reaching these EV sales targets would take a miracle, especially in the coming years when the mandates get exponentially tougher.
“There’s a significant gap between the marketplace and these EV sales requirements. In reality, meeting the mandates would require diverting finite capital from the EV transition to purchase compliance credits from Tesla. This doesn’t help EV adoption or build charging infrastructure but does create a domino effect leading to job and manufacturing losses, higher auto prices and fewer vehicle choices.
“By the way, the problem really isn’t California. It’s the 11 states that adopted California’s rules without the same level of readiness for EV sales requirements of this magnitude.
“The Senate (and the House before it) deserve enormous credit. Instead of kicking the can down the road or waiting for regulatory failure and its consequences, they voted to restore a degree of balance to U.S. vehicle emissions regulations.
“The auto industry has invested billions in electrification and has 144 electrified models on the market right now. Again, the concerns were about the mandate – not the technology. You can be against the ACC II EV mandates (we were) and believe that transportation is trending toward a range of electrified products like battery electric vehicles, hybrids and plug-in hybrids (it is).
“That’s what balance looks like. And balance is not only good for consumers, but essential for the U.S. auto industry to remain healthy and globally competitive.”
Additional Resources:
Background on California’s Advanced Clean Cars II program:
- California, Oregon, Washington State, New York, Massachusetts and Vermont have adopted ACC II starting in model year 2026.
- Colorado, New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island, New Mexico and Maryland join the program in model year 2027.