Trump Vows to End Federal Electric Vehicle Mandate

Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second inauguration on Monday, he announced he would be ending the federal electric vehicle mandate.

This will hamper California’s EV mandate, the goal of which is to end the sale of all gas-powered vehicles in the state by 2035.

Since California Governor Gavin Newsom first signed the executive order in September 2020 to make all passenger cars zero emission by 2035, the policy has been in a politically gray area. While the policy launched other states to make similar laws, it soon faced something that Californian-led policies rarely receive – contraction. Some states left the 2035 gas-powered car ban policy, including Virginia last year. Others reacted more strongly, like Wyoming, which is currently trying to ban the sale of all electric car sales in the state by 2035.

For California, the 2035 goal is likewise becoming much less ideal as the sale of all-electric cars has stagnated in the past year. Currently, around 21.4% of all cars sold in the state are electric – with the figure remaining unchanged from 2023. California is also likely to miss the electric vehicle sales goal of 35% by 2026, which will force the state to delay the original 2035 end date. Or the state can change it to include the far more popular hybrid vehicles. Newsom and other California lawmakers are feeling increased pressure to do something about it thanks to the declining sales.

In November 2024, Governor Newsom, faced with president-elect Donald Trump saying he would end the federal EV rebate  resulting in reducing the number of electric cars sold in California, announced he would bring back state rebates to electric cars. While the backlash against that announcement was swift, Newsom has stood firm on the decision thus far.

More worrying for Newsom, the action shows that Trump is willing to fight back against EV policies across the country. And since the EPA under Trump was actively going after the 2035 policy in California legally until Biden was sworn into office in early 2021, it sparked further fears that Trump would attempt a federal action halting state gas-powered car sales bans.

Also targeted by Trump was the federal EV mandate. Under the tailpipe emissions rules adapted last year by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 56% of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2032 would need to be powered by electricity alone. Less than 30% would use gasoline.

For many, both of the California and federal rules make little sense. Studies have shown that, even with both mandates still intact, only 25% of all cars sold in the U.S. in 2030 will be electric, far below the 44% federal and 68% California goals. A large number of states and automakers have also been fighting back against the mandates over concerns of demand and consumer cost. Toyota said that the mandates are impossible to meet and will likely fall far short of goals. Studies further showed that hybrids are preferred over electric, as many consumers have concerns over charging times, car battery life, and the ease of finding charging stations, especially outside of California.

The Trump executive order

Even with low industry and consumer support, the Biden administration pushed for the federal mandate and approved a waiver for the California 2035 ban. The latter essentially “Trump-proofed” the mandate, making it harder for the Trump administration to end it. Despite these protections, the new Trump administration announced on Monday that President Trump would be issuing an Executive Order ending the federal ban.

“With my actions today, we will end the Green New Deal, and we will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to our great American autoworkers,” said Trump in his inaugural address. “In other words, you’ll be able to buy the car of your choice.”

“Within the unleashing American energy executive order, the president will put an end to the electric vehicle mandate,” added an administration official later in the day. “I’ll also add that he’ll put an end to efforts to curtail consumer choice on the things that consumers use every single day, whether it be shower heads, whether it be gas stoves, whether it be dishwashers and the like.”

With the federal mandate on the way to being dismantled, the California mandate is now likely the next Trump administration target. While it does have added protections thanks to the EPA waiver, it further comes at a time where figures are well below expected benchmarks, with consumers still favoring gas and hybrids over electric despite more electric options.

“What Trump said and did today does not bode well for the California mandate,” explained Veronica Deer, an auto industry analyst who focuses on the electric market, to the Globe on Monday. “Consumers want hybrids. They recognize cars using gas as a major polluter as well as being expensive to fuel up, but see electric vehicles as unproven with not good enough batteries, charging times that take too long, and having limited mileage. Hybrid vehicles are really the most popular option right now, the best of both worlds.

“For consumers, that is a good compromise while automakers work out all of the electric car kinks. They want powering up batteries to be as fast as filling up a tank of gas. They want comparable mileage. Trump recognizes this. He’s basing the ban on consumer choice.

“And now, as soon as the federal ban goes through, California will be next. They’ll try everything to stop it. It might take a few years, but even then the victory would be pyrrhic for California as new data on sales following the federal ban would come out. And those would, based on current trends, show that consumers would naturally be moving away from gas-powered vehicles without such a mandate. Americans shift to hybrid first then electric.

“Newsom and everyone else in California knows that this state ban is coming soon, and the federal ban announced today shows that Trump is not kidding around.”