Archived copies of the article:
The details on this are not promising:
Nearly 23% of new vehicles sold in California in 2025 were considered zero-emission vehicles, though EV sales were down in the state and across the U.S. compared to the year prior.
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In the fourth quarter of 2025, only 18% of new cars sold in the state were zero-emission.
It needs to be 100% in the not-very-distant future, and that’s going to be really tough without a sharp reduction in prices, which isn’t likely to happen due to tariffs pushing prices up.
Is California not just made up of single family housing and very sunny everywhere? Seems like the ideal place to charge cars with solar at home.
You would think, but the policy moves the state has made, between mandating rooftop solar on new homes, and new net energy metering billing policies have inverted the finances of EVs. They are more expensive to buy, and often more expensive to operate than gas engine vehicles because we have completely fucked electricity prices. We are 3-4x the national average per KWh, and and easily double (if not more) what it costs in other states to install rooftop solar.
Our electricity prices have more than doubled in the last 5 years, and the cost of rooftop solar has balooned even independent of the batter requirement for new rooftop installations.
The issue is massive pricing disincentives for EVs at a time when gas prices are decreasing.