Concerns raised over proposal to ban the sale of gas vehicles by 2035 in Delaware

DOVER, Del. – Delaware’s plans to adopt California’s emission standards have raised some concerns among state lawmakers who are now speaking out over the proposal that would ban the sale of most gas-powered vehicles by 2035.

Governor John Carney announced the state’s plans to adopt the standards last year in an effort to increase electric vehicle availability and purchases.

If fully implemented, 35% of a new automobile dealership’s stock would have to be electric by 2025.

Beginning in 2035, no new gas or diesel-powered vehicles weighing 14,000 pounds or less could be sold within the State.

Some State lawmakers, such as Senate Minority Whip Brian Pettyjohn, have raised strong concerns over the proposal.

“The technology, the market, even the consumer demand is not there for it,” Sen. Pettyjohn told our Rob Petree. “We’re not California.”

Graphic opposing the proposed regulations shared by some state lawmakers, including Sen. Brian Pettyjohn.

Under the current proposal, the standards would not only apply to passenger vehicles but any vehicles under the threshold of 14,000 lbs, which would include larger trucks that a lot of businesses utilize for operations.

“Box trucks, they’re going to have to be electric powered, and I honestly have not seen an electric powered box truck yet,” Sen. Pettyjohn explained. “Even those large, something as large as a UPS truck that you see going through your neighborhoods, everything probably from that size, anything smaller, you won’t be able to buy a new one in Delaware.”

Sen. Pettyjohn says the effects of such a regulation could be disastrous for independently-owned vehicle repair shops across the state.

“Your mom-and-pop shops, as less and less people have your regular internal combustion engines, their business is going to get less and less under this proposal,” Sen. Pettyjohn stressed. “If you really kind of played through, you wouldn’t see those repair shops anymore. ”

When considering how electric vehicles operate, and the differences between them and gas-powered vehicles, Sen. Pettyjohn broke down for us just how great the impact could potentially be for those types of businesses.

“They don’t have internal combustion engines, so there’s no more oil changes,” Sen. Pettyjohn said. “You’ll still probably have to get tires done but they’re not going to be able to service the electric motors, a lot of those are going to be sealed units, and they’re not going to be able to service the batteries on those, those are sealed units.”

The proposal is far from set in stone at this point. A new set of draft regulations are set to be published by DNREC sometime soon and will be followed by another series of public workshops on the matter.

47 ABC News has reached out to both Governor Carney and DNREC and are awaiting a response.