New Jersey wanted to hear what residents, business owners and others felt about the state’s new electric vehicle requirements, and boy did it.
Gov. Phil Murphy earlier this year laid out a new rule that would phase out gas-powered cars by requiring 100% of new cars sold in the state to be electric starting in 2035.
The requirement could start between 2026 and 2027, but gradually increase annually based on when the rule is adopted.
Car manufacturers will still be able to provide some new hybrid vehicles for sale in the Garden State and used gas-powered cars will still be allowed on the market here.
New Jersey would follow California’s footsteps in installing the proposal, known as Advance Clean Cars II or “ACCII,” but as part of that process, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection opened a public comment period between the end of August and Oct. 20.
In that time, more than 1,000 pages of comments were submitted to the NJDEP, according to records provided by the department.
Reactions to the rule spanned the gamut.
Some New Jerseyans commended the reduction in emissions the clean car goal is expected to lay the groundwork for. Others worried ACCII might mean expensive electric vehicles and charging port installations, isn’t realistic given the state’s current charger infrastructure and electrical grid or may present challenges for multi-unit apartments. More than a few sent the state questions wondering — on a variety of fronts — how the rule would impact their lives.
On the way to even larger charger accessibility, New Jersey outlined in the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Plan that it aims to have 400 fast chargers and 1,000 Level 2 chargers in place across the state by 2025.
They will need them. The state expects zero-emission vehicles to make up nearly 90% of registered light-duty vehicles by 2050, according to the new vehicle rule.
While a New Jersey Turnpike Authority agreement approved earlier this year will bring a total of 240 electric passenger vehicle charging ports to the two toll roads operated by the authority, drivers have particularly yearned for fast chargers and wider access to Tesla ports.
In its annual “State of the Air” report, the American Lung Association drew a stark picture for New Jersey.
While the association pointed to some air improvements throughout various counties, poorer air quality conditions were found in a handful of others and some parts still ranked among the worst in the country.
The report “found that New Jersey is home to over 760,000 adults and children living with asthma that need stronger protection against ozone (smog) and particle (soot) pollution,” Michael Seilback, the lung association’s national assistant vice president for state public policy, wrote in his own comments to the state.
The average price for an electric car in June 2023 was $53,438 compared to $48,808 for gas-powered vehicles, according to Cox Automotive, which owns price advisor Kelley Blue Book.
And while industry experts have shared that more EVs on the road will further make the cars more affordable, not all concerns have been quelled.
Some New Jerseyans shared concerns over safety in the event electric cars became more ubiquitous.
According to the firm AutoinsuranceEZ electric vehicle fires can be harder to put out than those involving internal combustion engines due to lithium-ion batteries. Such EV fires can spread quickly and don’t require outside oxygen to burn due to the battery’s makeup, experts have noted.
The National Fire Protection Association has also considered what electric vehicle charging stations and a steady stream of cars plugging in indoors mean for safety.
An administration official for the governor said in August that while the clean car rule allows for plug-in hybrid vehicles, car manufacturers would only be able to meet 20% of their annual zero emission vehicle requirement with credits from hybrid cars that meet certain benchmarks.
Both the NJDEP and Murphy’s office this week said they did not have an update on whether the rule would be adopted in 2023. That timeline may depend on any changes to the rule borne out of the public comments recently submitted.
If adopted by the end of this year, the rule would require manufacturers to start to sell zero-emissions light-duty vehicles for cars, light trucks and SUVs beginning with 2027 models — thus starting in 2026.
Climate activists — with groups such as Environment New Jersey, League of Women Voters of NJ and the Sierra Club — argue that adopting ACCII this year would mean that by 2030 there would be more than 90,500 fewer zero emission vehicles on New Jersey roads.
“Adopting ACCII in New Jersey this year would significantly reduce air pollutants below 2021 levels by 2035,” the organization Clinicians for Climate Action told the NJDEP in its own October comment. “Delaying the adoption of the regulation means missing another model year and postponing how long it will take to improve the health of New Jerseyans.”
To read the Advanced Clean Cars II rule, click here.
