Every new gas-powered car that goes on the road commits us to decades of pollution. That's why we think legislation to phaseout gasoline must hinge on the one simple commitment of ending sales of new gas-powered cars by 2030. And that's not all. Green Energy Consumers Alliance is supporting legislation in Rhode Island and Massachusetts to create a plan to phaseout gasoline focused on three main principles:

• we need cleaner cars;
• we need to advance the market for electric buses, trucks, and fleets;
• and we need to reduce the total number of vehicle-miles-travelled through better transit and bike/pedestrian networks.

Rhode Island

The Electric Transportation Act has been introduced by Senator Alana DiMario and Representative Terri Cortvriend. The legislation (H. 7653 and S. 2448) creates a process to plan for the infrastructure and other changes involving cars, trucks, and public transportation in order to meet the 2030 target, which is critical for the state to meet its 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reductions under the Act on Climate. Following Rhode Island’s withdrawal from the Transportation and Climate Initiative, the bill represents a new approach to tackling pollution from transportation, the region’s largest source of emissions.

Blog: Rhode Island Bill Creates Roadmap to Advance Future of Electric Transportation

To meet our climate goals – from 2030 to 2050 – we have to phase out gas cars starting in 2030. A phaseout of the sale of new gasoline-powered cars starting in 2030 doesn’t mean we will get rid of gas-powered cars overnight. A 2030 phaseout would be the beginning of a multi-decade transition that will give states time to create an equitable plan for drivers of all incomes and workers in auto industry, as well as a plan to increase charging access, lower upfront costs of clean cars, and decrease dependence on personal vehicles overall.
 
Other countries, including France, the UK, and Germany, as well as the states of California, New York, and Washington have plans to end the sale of gas-powered cars.

Automakers are manufacturing dozens of electric car models and several are investing more in building electric cars than gas cars, including General Motors, Volvo, and Volkswagen. 2/3 of Americans are already considering an electric car for their next vehicle.
 
Electric cars are expected to cost the same to buy as comparable gas-powered cars by 2027.
  
Lower cost of ownership and better driving experience means that without policy intervention, half of new car sales will be electric by 2035 anyway due to consumer preference.

Our plan simply accelerates the trajectory we’re already on to deliver climate and health benefits sooner. Polling shows that 62% of Massachusetts voters  and 55% of voters nationally support the idea of a phaseout starting in 2030. The national polling compared responses by race and showed that a gasoline phaseout is most popular among people of color, who are also most concerned about climate change and air pollution.  

A phaseout of new gasoline car sales in 2030 represents the beginning of a 20-year transition period where gas vehicles slowly age out and are replaced with cleaner cars. This means establishing policy to prepare for 100% EV sales in 2030 will lead to a more doable and steady transition to electric vehicles than you might think. Watch a visualization of a 2030 phaseout of gasoline-powered cars for Rhode Island.