States Charging Ahead toward Electric Cars & Trucks

Environment America

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, 8 leading states unveiled an action plan to put more than 3 million electric cars on the road within a dozen years. This partnership between California, Oregon, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Connecticut, New York and Maryland outlines steps each state will take to build the infrastructure and develop the markets for zero-emission vehicles; including passenger cars, trucks and transit buses. These eight states are among the 10 states that have adopted strong policies to drive increasingly cleaner, advanced technology cars. Zero-emission vehicles include battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles which can travel increasingly longer distances on electricity alone. These technologies enable transportation without oil.
Travis Madsen, Global Warming Solutions Program Manager at Environment America, issued the following statement applauding the plan:

“The governors of these eight states deserve tremendous credit for taking this step to promote clean, electric cars that will reduce pollution and our dependence on oil. Thanks to strong policies adopted by these states and the Obama administration, there have been tremendous advances on electric cars, with more than 190,000 on the road today. The progress we’ve made so far should give us confidence that we can take electric cars to the next level.

“By adopting consumer incentives and other key policies, the plan released today can help make electric cars as convenient, affordable and widespread as cars currently powered by oil. This is a crucial strategy to protect our children and future generations from the worst impacts of global warming – and it will help protect our health by cleaning up air pollution.

“We applaud the release of today’s Multi-State Action Plan and look forward to working with these eight states and climate leaders across the country to accelerate the transition to clean, electric vehicles.”