data released Tuesday<\/a> by the California Energy Commission.<\/p>\n\u201cWe invested in this future when others said it was impossible,\u201d Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Newsom highlighted the number \u2014 2,551,121 to be exact \u2014 during his appearance Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.<\/p>\n
Locally, here in Yolo County, according to the California Energy Commission, nearly 1,500 zero-emission vehicles were newly registered in 2025.<\/p>\n
For the past two decades, California has led the nation in electric vehicle sales. The state has provided rebates, tax credits and other incentives as part of its efforts to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases.<\/p>\n
As technology has improved, allowing much farther battery range \u2014 with many models able to travel more than 300 miles when fully charged \u2014 EV sales now make up 22.9% of all new car sales in California. Santa Clara County has the highest rate in the state, with 41.1% of all new vehicles sold being electric in 2025.<\/p>\n
But electric vehicles face major headwinds. President Donald Trump has reversed or blocked many of the federal incentives put in place by former President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
This past year, Trump and Republicans in Congress eliminated the federal tax credit of up to $7,500 for the purchase of new electric vehicles. They let a law expire that allowed states to permit solo EV drivers in carpool lanes on federally funded highways, ending that perk nationwide.<\/p>\n
And in June, Trump signed a resolution blocking California\u2019s first-in-the-nation regulations banning the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger vehicles\u00a0by 2035, which Newsom had put in place in 2020.<\/p>\n
Trump held a White House ceremony June 12, saying California\u2019s rules limited consumer choice. He revoked federal permission for the ban, called a \u201cwaiver,\u201d that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had given to the state when Biden was in office.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe officially rescue the U.S. auto industry from destruction by terminating the California electric vehicle mandate once and for all,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThey said it couldn\u2019t be done. It\u2019s had us tied in knots for years. They passed these crazy rules.\u201d<\/p>\n
Republicans said California\u2019s rules were overly broad and would effectively set a national standard because the state is the largest car market in the United States and, under the Clean Air Act, other states are allowed to copy its rules.<\/p>\n
Environmental groups and Democratic leaders said Trump\u2019s rollbacks will lead to more air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and health problems for Californian residents.<\/p>\n
Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit over the issue minutes after Trump acted. California was joined by 10 other states \u2014 Colorado, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. The lawsuit is pending.<\/p>\n
In the months since, several large automakers have pulled back on some EV models. In December, Ford announced it would cease production of its all-electric F-150 pickup truck, and would focus instead on hybrid vehicles and a new line of smaller, cheaper EVs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the market really changed over the last couple of months, that was really the impetus for us to make the call,\u201d Ford CEO Jim Farley told Reuters in an interview.<\/p>\n
In California, 408,731 EVs sold in 2025. That\u2019s double the number from 2022, but down 8% from 2024, when 443,374 sold.<\/p>\n
Sales surged in the weeks before Sept. 30, when the federal tax credits expired, and then dropped off in October, November, and December.<\/p>\n
Even though two of the top three highest-selling vehicles of all types in California last year were the Tesla Model Y and the Model 3, the other being the gas-powered Toyota Camry, Tesla has seen some softening of sales in the state. Some residents of the blue state, angry that Tesla CEO Elon Musk contributed $250 million to Trump\u2019s re-election campaign and led an effort called DOGE to reduce federal staffing through firings and early retirements, have resisted buying Teslas, put stickers on the vehicles denouncing Musk, or purchased other EVs, like Hyundais, Hondas or Rivians instead.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration\u2019s fight over electric vehicle rules stands as one of the major environmental clashes between his administration and California during the first year of his second term, along with Trump\u2019s proposal to allow new offshore oil drilling along the state\u2019s coastline.<\/p>\n
Trump similarly tried to curb California\u2019s electric vehicle rules and allow new offshore oil drilling in his first term from 2017 to 2021. But California sued in both cases. The lawsuits were pending when Biden took office, and he reversed Trump\u2019s positions.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Newsom, who is considering a run for president in 2028, cast Trump\u2019s resistance to electric vehicles as putting the United States at a competitive disadvantage in a world where Europe, Japan, Canada, China, and other countries have passed similar laws to encourage the sale of electric vehicles, reduce oil consumption and phase out the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035 or 2040.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Washington now cedes the global clean vehicle market to China, California is ensuring American workers and manufacturers can compete and win in the industries that will define this century,\u201d Newsom said.<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago, Newsom announced in his state budget proposal that he would allocate $200 million to a new electric vehicle rebate program. Details, including how much motorists will receive, which cars are eligible and what income limits may apply, have not yet been finalized.<\/p>\n
\u201cCalifornia isn\u2019t slowing down, we\u2019re still leading the pack,\u201d said California Air Resources Board Chair Lauren Sanchez. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about clean air, it\u2019s smart economic policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Daily Democrat contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2012 \u2014 when there were about 30,000 electric vehicles on the road in California, Tesla was a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[387,7,9,8,179,643,457,181,23,100,180,13,1970,1967],"class_list":{"0":"post-143686","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-headlines","11":"tag-california-news","12":"tag-community","13":"tag-environment","14":"tag-gavin-newsom","15":"tag-latest-headlines","16":"tag-local-news","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-newsletter","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-technology","21":"tag-transportation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}