The Governor of New York State, Kathy Hochul, announced at the end of September that all new vehicles that will be sold starting in the year 2035 at the inside state borders will have to run on electricity or hydrogen. To achieve this objective, Ms. Hochul specifies that 35% of new vehicles sold by 2026 must be electric, 68% by 2030, and 100% by 2035.
Similar goals are seen elsewhere
In Quebec, the objective, in the end, is the same: the government is currently aiming for 2035 as the target year so that 100% of the automobile fleet in Quebec is made up of exclusively electric cars. Like New York State, however, other objectives have been set by 2035. Among other things, Quebec plans to achieve 17.5% electric vehicles by 2026 and 77.5% by 2030.
Then, on the side of the other very avant-garde state of the United States, California, the objectives are downright the same as those set by the State of New York. Theirs, however, are more detailed, while annual sales targets have been established by California.
However, only 19 of the 50 US states have adopted such measures so far, the ZEV standards set up by California having been adopted by 18 other US states. President Biden is, however, working to put forward a federal action plan that would allow our neighbors to the south to reach a target of electric vehicles set at 50% of the total vehicle fleet by 2030.
Government intervention must continue
Achieving these objectives will not happen by magic, however, and the direct intervention of the various governments in research and development, the network of charging stations or subsidies for the purchase and rental risks be necessary.
Moreover, the State of New York will inject 175 million US dollars into the improvement of its current charging network. This amount represents only part of the billion dollars that will be invested in various government programs over the next five years.
What’s more, the electricity that will power these electric vehicles will come in part from us, as we remember the historic agreement between Hydro-Québec and the State of New York, signed in September 2021. A spokesperson of the state-owned company, Lynn Saint-Laurent, illustrated at the time that, from an environmental point of view, switching to hydroelectricity “is like removing 44% of the gasoline-powered vehicles circulating in New York”.
