A sign posted outside a Toyota dealership in Tokyo on January 30, 2024.
Tomohiro Osumi | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Detroit — toyota motor vehicle The state warned Friday that California-led electric vehicle regulations set to begin next year are “impossible” to achieve and will reduce choice for customers in multiple states if not changed.
Current requirements under the California Air Resources Board’s Advanced Clean Car II regulations call for 35% of vehicles to be zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) for the 2026 model year, which begins next year. Battery electric vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, and to some extent plug-in hybrid electric vehicles qualify as zero emissions under the regulation.
“I’ve never seen any predictions, either in government or in the private sector, that that number is achievable. Right now, it looks impossible,” Jack Hollis, chief operating officer of Toyota Motor Corporation North America, told a virtual conference. Friday Media Roundtable. “The demand is not there. Customers will be limited in their choice of cars they want.”
The California Air Resources Board reports that 12 states and Washington, D.C., have adopted this rule. Approximately half of them were introduced from the 2027 model year. This EV mandate is part of CARB’s advanced clean car regulations, which require 100% of new car sales in California to be zero-emission models by 2035.
J.D. Power said no states are in compliance with EV mandates as of this year. Only California (27%), Colorado (22%) and Washington (20%) have at least 20% of their retail sales this year in EVs or PHEVs. Other states, such as New York (12%), New Mexico (5%), and Rhode Island (9%), are far from complying.
J.D. Power announced Friday that EV/PHEV penetration in retail sales will average just 9% nationwide through October.
Hollis said if the mandates remain unchanged, it will lead to “unnatural behavior” in the auto industry that has already begun with some automakers, with companies paying disproportionate amounts of money to states that have agreed to the rules. He said he is supplying electric models.
“It’s going to distort the industry. It’s going to distort the business. Why? Because it’s unnatural to the current demands of the market,” said Hollis, a longtime auto industry executive.
Several auto officials previously told CNBC that the issue of EV mandates needs to be addressed regardless of who wins this year’s election.
The California Air Resources Board did not respond to a request for comment.
Under President-elect Donald Trump’s first term, a legal battle ensued to strip states of their ability to set their own emissions standards. Several officials say they expect Mr. Trump to reintensify his stance once he returns to the White House.
Hollis said “we hope that doesn’t happen” this time, and that the state, federal government and the auto industry can come to a solution. He also said Toyota would prefer a single national standard, a sentiment long shared by many automakers.
“We always want the 50-state rule, because then we can treat every customer, every dealer equally and fairly, no matter what it is,” Hollis said. . “Our hope is that California and [the Environmental Protection Agency] Match, it is reduced to what is achievable. It’s impossible to push or reach at this point. ”
