State moves a step closer to banning sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035

Hochul signed a bill amending the state's environmental conservation law.

News 12 Staff

Sep 16, 2021, 8:08 PM

Updated 1,163 days ago

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A bill signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul last week moves New York a step closer to banning the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
Hochul signed a bill amending the state's environmental conservation law. Under the law, all new vehicles purchased in the state will have to be zero emission and environmentally safe by 2035.
Some say there are still challenges as the state moves away from gasoline-powered vehicles.
"We need to make sure that the electric vehicles reach price parity with current gas vehicles," says Adrienne Esposito, of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment. "We need to make sure we get a lot more chargers that were quicker, and are abundant, and we need to make sure that people understand that electric vehicles are going to be as good or better than current cars on the market."
Esposito says gas-guzzling cars produce 35% of all the carbon dioxide in the state.
Gasoline cars will still be allowed on the road and sales of used gasoline vehicles will continue.
PSEG Long Island says there will probably need to be some upgrades made to the electric grid, but the extent of the needs and the locations have yet to be determined. The new law requires power companies to submit strategies on how to handle the new electric demand.
California has a similar law in place. It's expected that other states will follow California and New York's lead.
Auto manufacturers say they should be selling electric vehicles or at least mostly electric vehicles by 2030 or 2035.