Massachusetts plans to ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035
By 2030, the state hopes to have more than 1 million EVs on the road.
Back in September, Governor Gavin Newsom announced California would ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles by 2035. Massachusetts says it now plans to do the same. As part of the state’s 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap, which was first spotted by The Boston Globe, Governor Charlie Baker said Massachusetts will mandate that all new cars sold in the Commonwealth be electric by 2035.
In Massachusetts, passenger vehicles currently account for about 27 percent of statewide emissions. If the state is to have any hope of meeting its plan to reduce emissions to 45 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and net-zero by 2050, EVs will have a significant role to play.
As of last year, there were approximately 30,000 electric vehicles on state roads — a number that likely includes hybrids, according to government officials. To achieve its 2030 emissions goal, about 1 million of the more than 5.5 million projected cars registered within the state by that year will need to be zero-emission vehicles, according to the plan. “Without market intervention, fewer than 500,000 vehicles on the road are projected to be electrified by 2030,” it warns. The state plans to invest in public charging infrastructure over the next decade to make the transition possible.
The state’s Decarbonization Roadmap, including the ban on new gas-powered vehicles, isn’t finalized yet. Massachusetts will consult the public on it throughout January and February before moving forward. However, as The Boston Globe points out, under the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act, Governor Baker has the authority to pursue many of the policy changes outlined in the plan. The move would put Massachusetts in line with California and a dozen other countries in Europe and some parts of Asia. In the US, New Jersey is also considering a 2035 ban.
