California says enough: from 2035 no more thermal cars will be sold

Yesterday it was written an important page in the history of California for the fight against Climate Change: with a unanimous vote by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC2) regulation was approved, which among its paragraphs definitively and totally bans the sale of thermal cars on Californian soil.

Strongly wanted by the Democrat Gavin Newsomcurrent governor of California, the edict does not stop and limit the sale of thermal engine vehicles, but sets a long series of strict parameters within which electric cars and plug-in hybrids, tolerated by 20% of models proposed by each automaker, must be included, such as warranty, durability, maintenance, simplified charging and battery labeling.

To name a few:

• Electric vehicles must be supplied with a charging cable.
• Standardized public charger adapters must be available (e.g. Tesla’s upcoming CCS adapter).
• Used vehicles must have battery health parameters so buyers know what they are buying.
• Batteries must maintain 70% range for 10 years / 150,000 miles (80% after Model Year 2030)
• Warranties must cover 70% of battery capacity for 8 years / 100,000 miles (75% after Model Year 2031).
• Information on the repair of electric vehicles should be disclosed to independent repair shops.

The entry into force will be gradual but constant in the period between 2026 and 2035and CARB provides that the ACC2 regulation will cut car emissions from the 50% from 2026 to 2040the equivalent of almost a billion barrels of unburned oil and avoid $ 13 billion in health care costs to the stateas well as avoiding thousands of cardiopulmonary deaths, hospital admissions and emergency room visits.

California is the federal state most determined to fight climate change and the one with the most electric cars on the road (it has more than double that of Florida, the second-ranked). According to the local press, the Californian initiative could set an example not only within the United States but also overseas and could lead to the achievement of its objectives much earlier than expected, since many companies will already start to produce cars that comply with the parameters set by the decree.