The Trump administration is ramping up pressure against California’s electric vehicle policies by filing a lawsuit to stop the state from imposing an electric vehicle mandate through state-specific zero-emission vehicle targets for car manufacturers.
The Department of Justice is targeting California’s Advanced Clean Cars II rules that require all new passenger and light truck sales in the state to have zero-emission vehicle targets, starting with 35% in model year 2026 and increasing to 100% by 2035.
“Oppressive, expensive electric vehicle mandates drive up costs for American consumers and violate federal law,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “California is using unlawful policies from the last administration to create exorbitant costs for our citizens.”
Federal law generally prohibits states from adopting or enforcing regulations related to fuel economy standards, although California has historically received waivers for emissions standards.
The California Air Resources Board adopted the Advanced Clean Cars II proposal in 2022, and then-President Biden’s administration granted California a waiver to enforce the rule.
The lawsuit argues that the California board’s zero-emission standards “threaten and harm the sovereign interest of the United States in the supremacy, enforcement, and application of federal law.” It says the California policy will also “undermine and conflict with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s congressionally assigned role in establishing nationwide, uniform vehicle fuel economy standards.”
It creates a “patchwork of inconsistent regulation for vehicle and engine manufacturers in an area where Congress imposed a uniform, national approach,” and harms “the interests of the United States in ensuring American consumers’ access to and choice of reliable, affordable motor vehicles,” the lawsuit stated.
The California Air Resources Board’s first Advanced Clean Cars I regulations were projected to reduce CO2 emissions from new passenger vehicles by approximately 34% — from model year 2016 levels — by 2025.
In June, President Trump signed legislation to revoke the newest emission mandates, which are currently being challenged in court.
But the first Advanced Clean Cars proposal found itself in a lawsuit that argues it amounts to “an illegal electric vehicle (EV) mandate through what are effectively state-specific mileage requirements for car manufacturers.”
