California has a history of radical green laws that become normal in the rest of the world soon after.

For example, 14 US states havehopped on board its zero-emissions standardsfor cars instead of following less-stringent federal regulations.

This has led to even stronger public engagement by Californians.

An old abandoned vehicle in the desert.

Rémi Jacquaint / Unsplash

After all, California is home to sustainability leaders like Patagonia, Apple, Google, anduntil recentlyTesla."

Is This Really a Ban?

From 2035, you’ll no longer be able to buy a new car that runs solely on gasoline.

A Tesla Model s in the city.

Roman Stasiuk / Getty Images

Even plug-in hybrid sales will be curtailed.

They’ll still be allowed, but only up to 20% of all car sales.

At that time, 35% of new car sales must be battery- or hydrogen-powered.

Two people walking away from a line of electric vehicles at a parking lot charging area.

Tomwang112 / Getty Images

The takeaway is pretty clear.

If you keep pushing them, you will be selling them into a diminishing customer pool.

The End Is Nigh

For carmakers, this is a huge deal.

And as already mentioned, what happens in California tends to end up happening elsewhere.

In1966, California established the first tailpipe emissions standardsin the US.

A few years later (1970),the government introduced the Clean Air Act.

Tomwang112 / Getty Images

Dead Dinosaurs

But not everybody is on board.

On top of this, newerreplacement trucks are in short supplylike everything else these days.

And postponing essential changes to support existing industry status quos is how we got into this mess.

The difference is that this time, there’s no time.