When you visit an auto dealer’s showroom in Colorado in the coming decade, most of the cars and trucks for sale will run on rechargeable batteries after state regulators on Friday approved a plan to increase the number of electric vehicles on the state’s roads.
The Colorado Air Quality Control Commission established a rule that will require increased electric offerings starting with model year 2027 and then, by model year 2032, 82% of all new cars sold must be electric or zero-emissions vehicles. The commission also agreed to revisit the rule in 2029 to consider extending the requirement to 2035.
The plan was supported by Gov. Jared Polis’s administration, and is in line with his goal to have more than 2 million electric cars and trucks on the roads by 2035 as part of an overall effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Already, the state is requiring 40% of semitrailers and other large trucks sold in Colorado to produce zero emissions by 2035.
The rule does not outlaw gas-powered cars and pickup trucks, so motorists will still be able to purchase and drive used cars, or travel to other states to buy them.
Environmental groups wanted the commission to require 100% of all new passenger car sales to be zero-emission vehicles by 2035. On Friday, they applauded the new rule as a step toward progress.
Transportation is one of the largest contributors to Colorado’s severe ozone pollution problems. The rule is expected to reduce nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions, which cause ground-level ozone to form. The pollution causes breathing problems in people, especially those with asthma and other lung conditions, and the smog it forms obscures the state’s mountain views.
“Living in Adams County between busy highways, I see my wife using her inhaler more and more and see neighbors making hospital trips for chronic respiratory illness,” Sarah Clark, field manager at the Colorado Sierra Club, said in a news release. “Air pollution threatens public health across Colorado, particularly in communities struggling with poverty and communities of color where people are more likely to live near busy highways. This is just one of many reasons we need to quickly transition away from fossil-fueled transportation.”
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