More than half of voters in Washington, Oregon and California say they support a mandate that all new cars sold in their state must be electric by 2030, according to new polling data from Climate Nexus Polling, Yale University and George Mason University.
In Washington, 58 percent support a mandate, while 34 percent oppose one. That is virtually unchanged from 2020, when the same polling team found 59 percent for and 35 percent opposed. The polls were commissioned by Coltura, a Seattle-based clean transportation advocacy group.
EV advocates cheered earlier this year when the Washington Legislature passed a 2030 target for ending sales of gasoline and diesel cars and light-duty vehicles in the state (House Bill 1287). However, the state Senate Transportation Committee tacked on an amendment saying the goal would be suspended until the state imposed a road usage charge.
Gov. Jay Inslee balked at the amendment when the bill made it to his desk in May.
"Setting and achieving a goal of 100 percent electric vehicles is too important to tie to the implementation of a separate policy like the road usage charge," he said in a statement explaining his veto of the goal.
The veto disappointed backers of the 2030 target, but the new polling data plus the exit of Democratic state Sen. Steve Hobbs, who backed the road usage amendment, has given new hope to EV advocates for the 2022 legislative session. In November, Hobbs left the state Senate, where he chaired the Transportation Committee, for his new job as Washington's secretary of state.
With Hobbs gone, that creates an opening for passing the 2030 target with no amended clutter, said Matthew Metz, co-executive director of Coltura.
Two candidates to head the Transportation Committee are state Sen. Rebecca Saldana (D-Seattle), who was vice chair in the last session, and state Sen. Marko Liias (D-Lynnwood), the current majority floor leader.
"Both were strong supporters of the 2030 goal," Metz told Clearing Up. "I'd be happy with either of them."
Liias was chosen as the panel's chair on Dec. 9, according to news reports.
In addition to a second run at an EV mandate in the next legislative session, which convenes Jan. 10, Metz said lawmakers need to put more resources into transportation electrification and giving the state more authority to spur 100 percent EV adoption.
Transportation electrification is happening, but "frankly, we're behind on our planning," he said.
He rattled off several big questions that have to be answered and solved along the way to reach 100 percent EVs: "How many grid upgrades are needed? What kind of financial assistance will communities need? How should we use federal infrastructure dollars? What kind of EV education is needed?"
Coltura is also working on EV policies with groups in Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island. The organization's poll found only 50 percent of Colorado voters support a mandate. Support was higher in Massachusetts, where 62 percent said they are in favor.
Sixty-two percent of California voters said they support a mandate and 31 percent oppose it. In 2020, Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order requiring all new cars be electric by 2035.
Support for a mandate in Oregon is similar to Washington—58 percent for and 33 percent against.
More than 70 percent of respondents in each of the three states said they have a positive opinion of EVs. Survey respondents in the three West Coast states said two key factors influencing their decision to get an EV are a federal tax credit and how easy it is to find a charging station.
Nearly half of voters surveyed in the three states said EVs do not have the range that the average American driver needs.
Battery EVs and plug-in EVs made up 11 percent of all new car sales in California during the first six months of the year. They made up nearly 7 percent of sales in both Washington and Oregon, 2 percent in Idaho and 1 percent in Montana, according to data compiled by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation.
Car makers, not mandates, might settle the question about the pace of electrifying transportation, Metz said. "They want certainty. They don't want to build two sets of cars."
