Delaware has formally set the required emission standards for cars over the next decade, severely limiting the number of gasoline-powered vehicles but not as much as originally proposed.
The regulation that will take effect Dec. 11 commits the First State to require 43% of new cars and trucks sold in Delaware to be electric or hybrid models, starting with car model year 2027. That percentage will increase to 82% in 2032, and the following year the rule will expire.
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Control (DNREC) Secretary Shawn Garvin wrote in his order yesterday that he found the public concerns about cost and charging infrastructure access sufficient to adopt a plan altered from the one proposed by Gov. John Carney. It would still give time for the state’s infrastructure and market to catch up with where many states are heading.
“If Delaware adopts only through 2032, [there is evidence] that significant reductions in nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and carbon dioxide will be achieved,” Garvin wrote. “This approach not only helps achieve significant pollution reduction from vehicle emissions, but this will ensure that Delaware makes the changes necessary to support the transition to [zero emission vehicles], while avoiding the requirement that they become 100% of the new vehicle sales market.”
Source : DBT