Supporters of New Jersey’s efforts to adopt California’s Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II) rule on Monday urged state officials to move faster, saying the state lags others and is in danger of missing the crucial year-end deadline to enable the rule to cover 2027 vehicles.

More than two dozen speakers testified at a hearing held to outline the process for adopting ACC II; most were in favor of the proposal. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) officials were seeking input on whether the state should advance on adopting the rules. Supporters said because New Jersey is following California’s model, it has little flexibility in changing the rules, which would have to be adopted almost wholly or not at all.

“Our goal is to adopt by the end of the year, so that we can capture model year 2027,” Peg Hanna, assistant director, air monitoring and mobile sources for the DEP, said at the meeting. “But that is an extremely ambitious time frame for us to propose and adopt a rule.”

Most of the speakers said the state needed to make it happen to quickly reduce pollution, reap the economic benefits of jump-starting a new market and to compete with other states.

“The climate emergency demands it, and we’re so behind,” said David Pringle, a steering committee member of Empower New Jersey, noting that some states adopted the rules in time for model year 2026.  “We’re not a leader of the pack here. We’re behind the pack, and we have to catch up.”

Kit Kennedy, managing director of the climate and clean energy program at Natural Resources Defense Council, said the rules are key to helping slow the worsening impacts of climate change on the state, such as those from Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

“The transportation sector is the largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions in the country and in New Jersey,” he said. “Zeroing out pollution from this sector will help to improve air quality and health while saving drivers money and reducing pain at the pump.”

The sole opposing voice at the hearing, Eric Blomgren, chief administrator and director of government for the New Jersey Gasoline, Convenience Store, Automotive Association (NJGCA), decried the rules. He said it is “fundamentally unfair” for the state to deny consumers the option to use gasoline vehicles.

“A transition should be done entirely through incentives to consumers, through free citizens making the choice themselves based on what makes sense for their life, their family and for their budget,” he said. He called the rules a “full government ban of a product which currently makes up 95% of the new sales market.”

Asked what prevented the state from moving swiftly, Hanna said it was a question of “internal prioritization” within the DEP, with the agency trying to adopt several different policies with limited administrative resources, some of which must be used to meet federal deadlines.

“It really is a balancing act,” she said, adding that “it remains our goal to adopt by the end of the year.”

Alex Ambrose, transportation and climate policy analyst at liberal think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective, urged the state to adopt the rules by April.

“Trying to reach these the goals that our state has set out without this rule in place for this year is like fighting with one hand tied behind our back, and we are sabotaging ourselves,” she said. “We’re like an out-of-state driver that is stuck in the left lane right now while other states are zooming past us towards the cleaner and healthier future.”

Ascending Sales Limits 

About 90,000 EVs are registered in New Jersey, a small fraction of the 6 million light-duty vehicles on the road, but a big jump up from approximately 30,000 EVs in the state at the end of 2019.

New Jersey’s Energy Master Plan calls for the state to deploy 330,000 light-duty EVs by 2025. Modeling by the International Council on Clean Transportation shows that New Jersey will reach 7.5 million EVs on the road by 2050 if the rules are enacted, and just 1.3 million EVs on the road if it isn’t, according to a presentation made at the meeting.

As adopted by California last August, ACC II requires car manufacturers in a state to provide an increasing percentage of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) for sale each year. It defines zero-emission vehicles as battery-electric, hydrogen fuel cell or plug-in hybrid. (See Calif. Adopts Rule Banning Gas-powered Car Sales in 2035.)

Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Virginia, New York and Massachusetts have followed suit in adopting the rules, while Delaware, Colorado, Washington, D.C., and Connecticut are considering doing the same. On Monday, Maryland said it would fast-track adoption of the rules. (See Maryland to Adopt California’s Advanced Clean Cars II Rule.)

The regulation starts with a 35% ZEV sales requirement for model year 2026, increasing to 68% in 2030 and reaching 100% in 2035. 

ACC II also includes increasingly stringent low-emissions vehicle standards aimed at reducing tailpipe emissions of gasoline-powered cars and heavier passenger trucks sold in a state.

Not all clean vehicles qualify under the rules, however. EVs must have a range of at least 200 miles, and plug in hybrids must be able to drive at least 70 miles on a charge, said Rob Schell, DEP’s supervising environmental specialist. The vehicles also must include an onboard charger of 5.76 kW or higher that can charge the vehicle in four hours or less, and be equipped to plug into DC fast charging ports.

Creating Market Certainty 

Tom Van Heeke, senior policy advisor for EV manufacturer Rivian, said passing the rules before year’s end is crucial not only for “achieving climate goals and achieving prescribed emissions reductions targets but also for investment certainty and planning both within the auto industry and then in sort of adjacent industries.”

“One of the core purposes of the rule is to provide a clear, well-understood glide slope that everyone can build and plan around in their businesses,” he said.

Eve Gabel-Frank, speaking for ChargEVC, a research organization and coalition of advocates that promotes EV use, said that even with 90,000 EVs on the road, the state is far away from its 2025 goal of 330,000 and the adoption of ACC II is key to reaching the goal by providing a signal to EV manufacturers.

“The reality of this is manufacturers are going to prioritize supply of EVs to the ACC II states,” she said. “So, if we don’t adopt [the rule], New Jersey drivers will either go without EVs, or be forced to travel to neighboring states to purchase the vehicles they want, which also has the added negative effect of moving economic activity out of the state.”

Preparing To Transition

That need to plan and prepare was echoed in a recent report by the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, which found that the market sector still needs preparation for the rapid transition from gasoline and diesel vehicles to EVs.

In a study conducted in September and just released, the organization surveyed its members to learn what car manufacturers are requiring franchise auto dealers to complete, install or purchase to “prepare their dealerships for the EV revolution to come.”

“New Jersey’s electrification process will take years, if not a decade to really pick up momentum,” the report said. “Most manufacturers have committed themselves to being all or mostly electric in a few decades. While dealers support electrification and stand ready to invest in EV infrastructure, they are reluctant to invest too much too soon while there is limited availability on product, in addition to the sheer cost of electrification.”  

The report said dealers expect to spend $151 million on preparing for greater EV adoption by consumers, and most manufacturers have a plan to electrify their franchises within the next 15 to 20 years. Twenty-seven out of 33 dealerships in the survey said they have started or are starting the EV process, the report found.

“The biggest obstacle to electrification facing the dealership body is electricity itself,” the report concluded, saying that the organization should conduct another study in a year.

“Dealership principals from a wide variety of brands expressed concern about whether there is currently enough power or electrical infrastructure to accommodate every automobile franchise in the state, or enough infrastructure to support home chargers for customers, which several principals also expressed concern over.

The concern for some centered on the cost of the electrical upgrades and the timeline for electric companies to install those upgrades,” the report found.