California Beats EV Adoption Goal by Over 1 Million Vehicles

Over 2.5 million electric cars have been sold in California since 2010, meaning the state exceeded its goal of putting 1.5 million EVs on its roads by 2025. 

According to an article by Caroline Petrow-Cohen in the Los Angeles Times, “Former Gov. Jerry Brown set the goal in 2012 with an executive order that also allocated $120 million for charging infrastructure. Prior to 2010, fewer than 600 zero-emission vehicles had been sold in the state, according to the California Energy Commission.” The state failed to meet another goal set by the California Air Resources Board in 2022 that 35% of new cars must be zero-emission by 2026.

In 2025, almost 23 percent of new vehicles sold in California were zero-emission vehicles, though EV sales jumped last year in anticipation of the end of the federal EV tax credit. Governor Newsom’s budget included a proposed $200 million EV incentive to replace the federal credit, and the California Energy Commission’s Clean Transportation Investment Plan includes $98.5 million for light-duty ZEV infrastructure.