TRENTON, NJ – Earlier this year, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy introduced a radical plan to ban the sale of gas-powered cars and trucks in the Garden State by 2035. That’s part of the governor’s Clean Cars II initiative which was taken from California’s strict new law with the same name.
Hidden deep inside the New Jersey Strategic Climate Plan is a paragraph that hints at what the governor’s next step in his climate agenda will look like.
Page 20 of the state’s new Strategic Climate Plan says further restrictions on gas appliances, gas heat, and even gas boats are coming. But first, it’s gas-powered cars on the chopping block.
“Following the completion of the initial phase of CPR regulatory reforms, and as described further herein, the Department is continuing the evolution of its greenhouse gas reduction efforts through the development of a second phase (CPR 2.0) that will seek to join nationwide efforts to implement regulations to further increase electric vehicle sales, implement appliance and equipment efficiency standards,” the plan reads. “address climate-influenced degradation of air quality from consumer products, better align policy and permitting decisions with the State’s emission reduction goals, and evaluate additional regulatory proposals related to the electrification of large fleets, cargo handling equipment, and harbor craft.”
Most people are saying, “Governor Murphy won’t be here in 2030, so we can undo this.”
However, the gas car ban seeks to achieve 100% eradication of sales by 2035. However, the first phase of that plan kicks in just a few years from now.
The first phase of that plan is closer than you think. The new rule mandates that 35% of cars sold in New Jersey be electric by 2026.
The New Jersey Coalition of Automobile Retailers, the group that represents car dealers in the state, says there is a natural shift in the market to electric vehicles, but that the governor’s approach is not only flawed, but it might not even be possible.
“New Jersey’s neighborhood new car and truck dealerships agree that we must move aggressively to transition from ICE to electric vehicles, but disagree with the Murphy Administration’s approach,” the group said. “Adopting ACCII, when other options are available, will harm New Jersey consumers. The Governor’s plan will make new cars virtually unaffordable for working and middle-class consumers and will severely limit vehicle consumer choice. ACCII requires manufacturers to deliver sharply increasing numbers of electric vehicles — and eventually ONLY electric vehicles — into the State, regardless of what consumers want to buy, what they can afford or what vehicle meets their specific needs.”
If consumers in New Jersey wanted electric vehicles, they would be buying electric vehicles at higher levels, but they aren’t.
“More and more New Jersey consumers are thinking about buying an EV, but consumer interest in EVs is nowhere near the levels mandated by the California architects of ACCII. New Jersey is NOT California,” NJ CAR said. “The governor’s plan to adopt ACCII would limit New Jersey consumer choice, drive up new vehicle costs and ultimately frustrate our shared goal of transforming the current vehicle fleet from internal combustion engine (ICE) to EV.”
Under Clean Cars II, Murphy will not ban the use of gas-powered cars. He’s simply going to burden non-ev drivers to the point where it is extremely difficult to purchase, own and maintain gas-powered cars. NJ CAR says the decision to switch to EV cars en masse is not a government choice, but a personal choice.
“Consumers will decide when New Jersey becomes a 100% EV market, NOT government decision-makers or a Governor who won’t even be in office when these mandates kick in and won’t have to deal with the economic and consumer impacts of this ill-advised policy,” NJ CAR said.