The Golden State has voted to become the first in America to bring in a ban on petrol-powered cars, starting in 2035.
Lawmakers in California passed the historic vote on Thursday (local time).
The new rules have set zero emission sales goals for new cars over the next 13 years - starting with 35% of vehicles sold in the state by 2026 to be electric or hybrid, and 68% by 2030.
The state’s move to have all new cars, pickup trucks and SUVs be electric or hydrogen by 2035 is likely to reshape the US auto market. (Source: 1News)
Rules for diesel vehicles will be set separately.
Electric cars were once considered little more than a glorified golf cart but California now accounts for 48% of all America's EV stock.
Tesla is by far the biggest manufacturer - and also the largest charging station provider, which will cause problems if not resolved by the wider industry.
"Charging infrastructure is always forefront of an electric vehicle purchaser," said Jessie Dosanjh, president of the California Retail Motoring Group.
"There are a couple elements to that. One of them being the availability of chargers. Second, the reliability of those chargers as a function of the power grid."
The US Government has committed NZ$8 billion toward developing a national electric charging grid, by 2030.
Manufacturers will also have to contend with limited quantities of the materials required to make the cars - or more specifically, their batteries, which require cobalt, nickel and lithium ion.
But California governor Gavin Newsom is looking ahead.
"This is a gamechanger," he said.
"There's nothing else that will move the needle more on greenhouse gases, than tailpipe emissions."
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