For the past two years, New Jersey has been moving swiftly to align with California’s aggressive EV mandates. The State adopted regulations requiring that 100% of new light-duty vehicle sales be electric by 2035, and that all new Class 2b through 8 commercial truck sales meet the same requirement by 2036.
These regulations moved too far, too fast. Consumers faced significant barriers to EV adoption — cost, range anxiety, and inadequate charging infrastructure. While incentives had initially spurred investment, New Jersey had begun to scale them back, and federal incentives were also under scrutiny. Unfortunately, the demand for EVs did not meet the targets for EV sales in New Jersey.
Complicating matters further, the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII) regulation created a fragmented national landscape. New Jersey residents could bypass these mandates simply by purchasing vehicles in neighboring states like Pennsylvania, where federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules prevailed. This would have put New Jersey dealers at a competitive disadvantage and jeopardized local jobs.
The commercial vehicle mandates posed even greater challenges. Under the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) regulation, which took effect January 1, 2024, dealers were limited in their ability to sell diesel trucks unless they first met electric sales quotas. Yet, electric trucks cost nearly three times as much as diesel models, fall short in performance, and lack adequate publicly available commercial charging infrastructure, setting up our small business truck dealers and their customers to fail.
In response, the U.S. Congress acted decisively. Lawmakers introduced three Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions — H.J.Res.87, 88, and 89 — targeting California’s gas car ban, diesel truck ban, and Low NOx emissions regulation. On June 12, 2025, President Trump signed these resolutions into law, effectively nullifying the mandates.
As a result, New Jersey franchised new car and truck dealers will continue to offer EVs but will no longer be restricted from selling gas-powered or hybrid vehicles beyond 2035. For many, this marks a victory for consumer choice and economic practicality.
NJ CAR is grateful for this much-needed relief. Powertrain adoption should be market-driven, not dictated by unrealistic timelines that ignore consumer demand and infrastructure limitations.
