Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- The Senate voted to block California's 2035 electric vehicle rules, affecting 11 states.
- The decision benefits automakers like GM and Toyota but faces legal challenges from California.
- Automakers argue mandates are unachievable; environmental groups and California vow to fight back.
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday voted to bar California's landmark plan to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035 that has been adopted by 11 other states representing a third of the U.S. auto market.
The vote sends to President Donald Trump the measure to repeal a waiver granted by the Environmental Protection Agency under former President Joe Biden in December, allowing California to mandate at least 80% of vehicles be electric vehicles by 2035.
The vote is a win for General Motors, Toyota and other automakers that heavily lobbied against the rules and a blow to California and environmental groups that say the requirements are essential to ensuring cleaner vehicles and cutting pollution.
California first announced a plan in 2020 to require that by 2035 at least 80% of new cars sold be electric and up to 20% plug-in hybrid models.
"This Senate vote is illegal," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said, adding the Senate action would cost California taxpayers an estimated $45 billion in additional health care costs. "We're going to fight this unconstitutional attack on California in court."
Since 1970, California has received more than 100 waivers under the Clean Air Act.
Senate Republicans rejected the advice of the parliamentarian in moving forward. In March, the Government Accountability Office said the waivers cannot be repealed under the Congressional Review Act, which only requires a majority of the Senate.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, representing GM, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Stellantis and others, praised the vote.
"The fact is these EV sales mandates were never achievable," the group's CEO, John Bozzella, said. "In reality, meeting the mandates would require diverting finite capital from the EV transition to purchase compliance credits from Tesla."
Earthjustice President Abigail Dillen denounced the vote. "While our Republican leaders may try to put the horse back in the barn when it comes to electric vehicles, the world has already shifted under their feet," she said.
Tesla did not immediately comment. GM praised the vote, saying it would "align emissions standards with today's market realities."
The Senate separately voted Thursday to rescind the EPA's 2023 approval of California's plans to require a rising number of zero-emission heavy-duty trucks and to bar California's low-NOx, or low-nitrogen oxide, regulation for heavy-duty highway and off-road vehicles and engines.
These are the latest actions in recent months taking aim at electric vehicles.
A separate bill passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday would end a $7,500 tax credit for new EVs, impose a new $250 annual fee on EVs for road repair costs and repeal vehicle emissions rules designed to prod automakers into building more EVs. It would also phase out EV battery production tax credits in 2028.
If upheld by the courts, rescinding California's rules will make it easier for automakers to delay or cancel some EV production. Automakers had warned in the coming months they might have been forced to limit gas-powered vehicles in some states.
California's rules require 35% of light-duty vehicles in the 2026 model year to be zero-emission models. Automakers say it is impossible for them to meet that figure given current EV sales, which are 10% or lower in some states adopting the rules. Vermont and Maryland have delayed compliance.
Contributing: Kalea Hall
