California is on pace to exceed its goal of 1.5 million electric cars on the streets by 2025, according to a new report from public policy think tank Next 10. Nearly 350,000 electric vehicles have been sold in the state, and 2017’s growth rate in sales was almost 30% higher than 2016’s rate, the report found. Researchers credited reduced battery costs, lowering the overall price tag of the vehicles, and strong demand worldwide as key drivers of the increase in sales.
“The movement around the globe to move away from gas-powered vehicles is very significant and California is at the center of that,” said F. Noel Perry, a venture capitalist and Next 10’s founder.
Electric vehicle sales will only need to increase by 20% year-over-year through 2025 for the state to meet its target, the report said.
The study comes just after Gov. Jerry Brown announced a goal of putting 5 million electric vehicles on the state’s roads by 2030,
Perry called the new 2030 target, which Brown issued in an executive order Friday, “very, very ambitious” and said it’s difficult to know whether it’s possible. Key to the effort, he said, will be improving the state’s network of charging stations, which will need to be expanded rapidly to meet the new target.
Part of Brown’s announcement included plans to spend $2.5 billion to continue subsidizing electric car purchases and bring 250,000 vehicle charging stations and 200 hydrogen fueling stations to California by 2025.
Mary Nichols, the chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, said in a conference call with reporters Friday that 40% of all passenger vehicle sales in 2030 would need to be electric for the goal to be met. Currently, the figure is 4.5% of sales.
“We think that is a very reasonable proposal,” Nichols said. “It’s not a stretch.”
State lawmakers will be considering an even more aggressive proposal on electric cars this year. Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) has introduced Assembly Bill 1745, which would ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles in the state after Jan. 1, 2040.