Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that he plans to resurrect California’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program if President-elect Donald Trump cuts the federal tax credit for zero-emission vehicles.
Trump had promised on the campaign trail to end the credit — which the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 expanded — and the right-wing policy agenda laid out in Project 2025 urges the next Republican administration to “end federal mandates and subsidies of electric vehicles” as part of ending “the war on fossil fuels.”
However, California is pushing to have zero-emission vehicles make up 100% of in-state sales of new vehicles by 2035 — a goal that would be complicated by the possible fight from the Trump administration and a potential state deficit of nearly $2 billion. In the third quarter of this year, 26.4% of all new cars, vans and trucks sold in the state were zero-emission vehicles.