Vermont pauses the EV sales requirements

EVWire brief: - Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed an executive order to pause the state's EV sales requirements for passenger cars under the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II) and medium and heavy-duty trucks under the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) and Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Omnibus (HD Omnibus) rules which the state adopted in December 2022.

Context:

Vermont is one of 11 states that have adopted California's zero-emission vehicle rules, which seek to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035 and have intermediary targers, like requiring 35% of light-duty vehicles in the 2026 model year to be zero-emission models.

In the executive order on the ACT and HD Omnibus sales, the governor orders the Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) towards “not taking action against manufacturers that do not meet their sales obligations for the duration of this order.”

It also writes: “ANR shall establish an email box dedicated to receiving complaints from those who believe manufacturers are imposing ZEV sales ratios on dealerships in Vermont.”

For the ACC II ZEV sales requirements, the Secretary of ANR is ordered: ANR “shall exercise compliance flexibility and enforcement discretion by declining to pursue penalties associated with any. To be eligible for compliance relief, manufacturers must not impose ZEV sales ratios on dealerships in Vermont and must fulfill in a timely manner all requests for vehicles to dealerships seeking those vehicles.”

It seems that while the order pauses the adopted rules, it does leave some softer requirements for manufacturers on EVs:

The executive order cites one of the reasons of enforcing this as “it has become clear that there is insufficient charging infrastructure for passenger cars and insufficient technological advances in heavy-duty vehicles for these regulatory requirements to meet current goals.”

Source: Executive Order NO. 04-25 (3-page pdf), State of Vermont