Connecticut Withdraws EV Plan
Connecticut withdrew a plan that called for the state to follow California’s electric vehicle mandates.
The Connecticut Energy Marketers Association noted that in withdrawing the plan, Connecticut was backing away from California’s EV mandates for medium- and heavy-duty trucks and consumer passenger vehicles. In doing so, Connecticut became the first state to pull back from the plan for both trucks and consumer passenger vehicles, according to CEMA.
The proposed regulations were withdrawn by Gov. Ned Lamont in late November, shortly before the legislature’s Regulation Review Committee was scheduled to vote on them, news outlets reported. Lamont and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection had proposed the regulations four months earlier, on July 26, to make cars and trucks up to 90% cleaner and to require vehicle manufacturers to deliver more zero-emission vehicles to the state.
The federal Clean Air Act allows states to adopt California’s emissions standards rather than the federal standards.
American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear noted that a growing number of states are rejecting what he called “California’s unworkable electric-vehicle mandates.”
Spear said, “The tide is turning as state officials across the country wake up to the reality that California’s electric-truck mandates are bad policy that carry serious political consequences. Technically unachievable standards and unrealistic timelines that set the trucking industry and consumers up for failure are not how we achieve our shared goal of further reducing emissions.
“As Connecticut, North Carolina, and Maine have realized, blindly following California’s sure-to-fail approach is not the only option. Ensuring the necessary infrastructure is in place and allowing for a range of technological solutions to prevail, rather than one-size-fits-all mandates, is how we succeed together on the road to zero emissions.
“We’ll continue to work with EPA on a uniform, national standard that accounts for the operational realities of the trucking industry and provides a realistic path forward for the nation.” American Trucking Associations is a national trade association for the trucking industry, consisting of a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations.
