Two years after Maryland began a campaign to phase out gas-powered cars, President Trump pulled the plug on it. The president signed a trio of congressional resolutions earlier this month blocking rules — set by California and adopted by other states including Maryland — designed to reduce the market for gas-powered cars and eventually ban combustion engines from new car dealership lots in the next decade. Designed to help reduce emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change, the rules called for electric vehicle sales to account for 35 percent of all new car sales by the fall of 2026, rising to 100 percent by 2035.
Where we fall: EV sales in Maryland lag far below the required benchmarks, and so far the state isn’t fighting to preserve the policy, which was targeted by Republicans skeptical of climate change and concerned about consumer choice. Faced with that reality, Governor Moore opted in April to delay penalizing automakers in 2026 and 2027. While California and 10 other states sued the Trump administration over the congressional resolution, Maryland is notably absent from the lawsuit.
