Oregon, Washington Plan to Ban All New Gas-Powered Cars by 2035. What's Next?

September 22, 2022

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by Pat Dooris, David Mann (KGW8) In just over a decade, all new cars sold in Oregon and Washington will be electric vehicles (EVs) — that's the plan at least.

Earlier this year, California announced a statewide ban on new gas-powered cars by 2035. It's the only U.S. state that's allowed to make its own vehicle emissions rules, and it's also the most populous.

Every other state can choose to adopt federal emissions rules, which are less stringent, or follow California's rules to a tee.

Washington passed a law in 2019 committing the state to following California's vehicle emissions standards, and the state already has a lot of people driving electric cars. It recently hit the milestone of 100,000 EVs on the road.

Building enough charging stations to support a major influx in EVs will be an engineering challenge, but the Washington Department of Ecology is confident the plan will work out.

"The whole network we have to deliver fuel that gets into our cars is a completely different system. But once we get that system built, the real advantage of electric cars other than they're good for the environment is that they're cheaper to operate," said Joel Creswell with the Department of Ecology.

Washington is already taking public comment on its vehicle emissions rules, which have been written to meet California's standards.

Oregon, which adopted California's emissions standards in 2006, has about 52,000 electric vehicles on the road, most of which are in the greater Portland area.

The state plans to have EVs make up at least 35% of all new cars on the market by 2026. So even in the next four years, it's likely that local dealerships will have a lot more electric vehicles on their lots.

Like California and Washington, the plan is for EVs to make up 100% of new cars by 2035.That doesn't mean people have to sell or get rid of the gas-powered cars they already own.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is still in the process of writing the rules to meet California's standards. Rachel Sakata, senior air quality planner with Oregon DEQ, held a Zoom meeting Tuesday to talk about the plan moving forward.

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As part of the rulemaking process, Oregon DEQ must also estimate the cost to those impacted by the transition, including manufacturers. The report estimated it will cost vehicle makers around $3 billion.

Steve Henderson, an executive at Ford Motor Company who leads the electrification team, was on the call. He said the transition will cost them much more.

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Oregon DEQ will issue its proposed rules for the plan next week. There will be public hearings in mid-October before they're scheduled to take effect in December. READ MORE; includes VIDEO

Oregon wants to boost number of electric vehicles on roads -- Both the state and the federal government have a number of cost-saving programs to try to entice people to go electric. (KGW8; includes VIDEO)

More Than Half of US Car Sales Will Be Electric by 2030: Biden’s climate spending is set to kickstart the market for EVs, according to a new forecast from BloombergNEF. (Bloomberg)

It’s common to charge electric vehicles at night. That will be a problem. (Washington Post)

Many in WA oppose gas-car ban, poll shows — but electric vehicle demand is high (Seattle Times)

Excerpt from Seattle Times: But according to a recent poll, Washingtonians may have mixed feelings about what Gov. Jay Inslee called a “critical milestone” in the climate change fight: a statewide ban on the sale of new gas cars by 2035.

Just less than half of respondents, 48%, said they do not support the proposed ban, while 38% support it and 16% were unsure about it.

Results suggest opinions fall along party lines.

Most of the support came from self-identified Democrats. Among them, about 65% said they support the ban, while 21% opposed the ban and 14% were unsure.

The majority of those who opposed the ban identified as politically Independent or Republican. About 78% of Republican and 58% of Independent respondents said they opposed the ban. READ MORE