New York Follows California to Adopt Ban on Gasoline-Powered Cars

New York State has jumped more squarely onto the zero-emissions bandwagon by announcing it will follow California’s lead in banning sales of gasoline-powered cars.

The announcement was made by New York Governor Kathy Hochul at a press conference on Sept. 29, in which she said that all new sales of cars, pickups, and SUVs in the state must be either fully electric or plug-in hybrids starting in 2035.

Meeting the 2035 target will be staggered, with a requirement for 35 percent of new cars, pickups, and SUVs having to be zero-emission by 2026 and 60 percent by 2030, Hochul said.

“New York is a national climate leader and an economic powerhouse, and we’re using our strength to help spur innovation and implementation of zero-emission vehicles on a grand scale,” Hochul said.

While the plan outlined by Hochul mostly follows California’s zero-emissions scheme, New York’s extends to public transportation, including school buses.

All new school buses in New York will be required to be zero-emission by 2027, and the entire fleet must meet the stringent standards by 2035.

In her announcement, Hochul also said New York would be rolling out a range of financial incentives to encourage residents to buy electric vehicles, along with investments in related infrastructure, including fast-charging stations.

New York is the latest state to adopt the zero-emissions measure after California announced in August (pdf) that it would prohibit new sales of gas-powered cars by 2035, with the same staggered adoption milestones.

“We had to wait for California to take a step because there’s some federal requirement that California had to go first … But once they made that decision, we were able to step up immediately and say ‘now there’s nothing holding us back,’” Hochul said.

After the California Air Resources Board unveiled the gas-powered car ban, the states