Toyota: California EV mandates 'impossible' to meet By EPN Staff A California mandate requiring 35 percent of 2026-model vehicles to be zero-emission will be “impossible” to meet when it goes into effect in 2025, according to Jack Hollis, chief operating officer of Toyota Motor North America. The Advanced Clean Cars II rule, approved in California in 2022, requires all new passenger cars, trucks and SUVs to be zero-emission vehicles by the year 2035. A dozen states and Washington, D.C., have adopted the same goal; some will go into effect in 2027. Why it matters Toyota is the world’s largest automaker, and its leaders have long expressed skepticism toward efforts to accelerate a transition to all-electric vehicles. In Virginia, the Republican-led executive branch has recently aligned with Toyota’s position and abandoned the prior Democratic administration’s commitments to electric vehicle sales in the commonwealth. The General Assembly passed legislation in 2021 to abide by California’s zero-emission mandate, requiring all new cars sold in Virginia to be zero-emission vehicles by 2035. But in June 2024, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares announced Virginia would not abide by the mandate beginning in 2025, due to California updating its original standards in 2022. Virginia’s 2021 legislation, therefore, is not enforceable, according to Miyares. The bigger picture Manufacturers tend to prioritize shipment of electric vehicles to states that mandate a higher proportion of EVs being sold in those states. In states that don’t adopt California’s mandate, consumers are likely to see fewer electric vehicles available for sale. California’s rule was intended to increase the number of zero-emission vehicles, which are largely electric but include fuel-cell powered vehicles and some hybrids. Yes, but In 2023, electric vehicles made up roughly 9 percent of all new cars sold in Virginia, according to data from the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association. Additionally, the average age of cars on the road in 2024 is 12.6 years. Auto industry officials say the public simply is not buying enough of these vehicles to meet the mandate’s requirements. More details Hollis said during the virtual media roundtable in November that customers will ultimately have fewer options when buying a car as a result of California’s policy. “I have not seen a forecast by anyone … government or private, anywhere that has told us that that number is achievable. At this point, it looks impossible,” Hollis said at the roundtable. “Demand isn’t there. It’s going to limit a customer’s choice of the vehicles they want.”
