As President Donald Trump works to unravel California Governor Gavin Newsom (D)’s electric vehicle mandate, consumer demand is softening for the expensive and sometimes unreliable vehicles.
Newsom’s plan would see gasoline-powered cars banned in the state by 2035–a move that would effectively be a nationwide ban because automobile makers tailor their manufacturing to California’s standards due to its large share of the overall marketplace.
Sales of EVs in California were already softening in 2024, but in the latest 3-month period ending in June, they were more than 16,000 lower than the same period the previous year–100,671 instead of 116,813 according to registration data.
At the end of 2024, EV sales were 25.1% of all sales in the Golden State, but April through June 0f 2025 they were 21.6%. That’s not the direction Newsom and Democrat powers-that-be want things to go.
Weaknesses exposed
It doesn’t help that more widespread use of EVs has exposed weaknesses such as the impact of extreme temperatures on battery life and charging time.
Furthermore, some of the perks EV users have enjoyed are going away in the coming months.
Special access to carpool lanes will end on September 30, and so will the tax credits ($7,500 for new and $4,000 for used EVs).
These perks were meant to attract drivers to EVs, and without them, some drivers may not be incentivized to pay higher prices and deal with “range anxiety” and the other drawbacks of EVs.
Consumers may remember the time in 2020 when EV owners were asked not to charge their cars in the afternoon or evening during a heat wave that strained the power grid.
Why buy a car that you won’t be able to use when you really need to?
Counterproductive
Think about it: if consumers know that in 10 more years they won’t be able to get gasoline-powered cars anymore, wouldn’t that drive demand for them up?
That’s the exact opposite of what Newsom is going for, but it makes perfect sense.
Get your gas-powered car now or in the next several years before prices go up. EVs should get more affordable as time goes on, so it may be advantageous to wait as long as possible.
That is, if Trump doesn’t manage to topple the mandate. My money’s on him, for what it’s worth.
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Author: Jen Krausz
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