New York is joining California in the push to phase out sales of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
The announcement came from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday as some of the nation's most populous states race to decarbonize transportation.
“We’re really putting our foot down on the accelerator and revving up our efforts to make sure we have this transition — not someday in the future, but on a specific date, a specific year — by the year 2035,” Hochul said at a press conference in White Plains, N.Y., The Hill reported.
Hochul drove up to the press conference in a white Chevy Bolt and announced a slew of new initiatives to boost electric vehicle and zero emission transport across the state.
New York will push for 35% of new cars sold to be zero-emission by 2026 and 68% by 2030. As part of the effort, all of the new school buses bought by the state will be zero-emission by 2027, according to The Hill's reporting.
“We actually have benchmarks to achieve, to show we’re on the path to get there,” Hochul said at the press conference.
As part of the rush to electrify and decarbonize transportation the state will pour $10 million into its Drive Clean Rebate program.
New Yorkers will be able to receive a $2000 rebate for their EV purchases. It's part of a continuing rebate program that's already seen $90 million pushed into 78,000 rebates.
Hochul also issued a progress report on its charger installations, noting that the state had just flipped the switch on its 100th high-seed EV-charger.
These moves from California and New York will go a long way toward slashing one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
Transportation accounts for roughly 27% of all of the nation's emissions.