California Governor Gavin Newsom recently committed to restarting state’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) rebate program in lieu of the federal EV tax credit, a reaction to the governor’s opinion that President-Elect Trump could scale back some of the Biden Administration’s efforts to promote the sale of electric vehicles (EV).
Included within an announcement celebrating the sale of more than 2 million ZEVs in California, Newsom proposed creating an updated version of the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program. While it was closed in 2023, the program helped fund the purchase more than 594,000 clean vehicles, including battery-electric vehicles (71%), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (26%), and fuel cell electric vehicles and zero-emission motorcycles (3%). Newsom previously called for a special session of the state legislature to preserve certain “values and fundamental rights.”
“Consumers continue to prove the skeptics wrong – zero-emission vehicles are here to stay. We will intervene if the Trump Administration eliminates the federal tax credit, doubling down on our commitment to clean air and green jobs in California. We’re not turning back on a clean transportation future — we’re going to make it more affordable for people to drive vehicles that don’t pollute,” said Newsom in the statement.
The statement also included proposed changes to the program that would “promote innovation and competition in the ZEV market.” While the statement does not specifically mention Tesla by name, an article from Bloomberg suggests the EVs may not make the cut due to “market-share limitations that would exclude Tesla’s popular EV models.” Tesla CEO Elon Musk was quick to respond to the article on X, stating that “…Tesla is the only company who manufactures their EVs in California,” and adding, “This is insane.”
