Maryland, My Maryland

Leslie Eastman at LI reports Maryland Delays Implementing Senseless, California-Style EV Mandate

Another state is now reconsidering its EV mandate. Maryland’s governor has delayed its attempt to be East Coast California.

The Maryland Freedom Caucus is claiming victory after Governor Wes Moore issued an executive order last week delaying implementation of California’s Advanced Clean Cars (CACC) 11 mandate by two years. The order comes in direct response to the Freedom Caucus’s January 16, 2025 letter calling for Maryland to fully withdraw from the program.

“This is a major win for the people of Maryland,” said Delegate Matt Morgan, Chair of the Maryland Freedom Caucus. “We sounded the alarm early, and now Governor Moore is backing down. This delay is proof that the Freedom Caucus is delivering real results for working families and small businesses.”

The CACC 11 mandate, modeled after California’s extreme environmental regulations, would have forced 43% of all new cars sold in Maryland by model year 2027 to be electric—despite EVs making up less than 10% of vehicles on Maryland roads and consumer demand continuing to drop. The Freedom Caucus’s letter warned that the mandate would cripple local auto dealerships, burden consumers with unaffordable vehicle choices, and force residents to rely on a charging infrastructure that does not yet exist.

Moore, a Democrat, blamed President Donald Trump, citing the current administration’s withholding of federal funds and concerns from automakers.

“There are indications that the policies of the current federal administration will greatly impact … compliance,” he said. The order noted that the Department of Transportation has held back funding under former president Joe Biden’s $7.5 billion program to build a network of EV chargers across the country.

That program, the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, was designed to push billions of dollars in federal taxpayer funds to state governments for the purpose of constructing EV charging stations. But the program has faced widespread criticism for producing just a handful of stations over the course of three years and, in one of his first actions, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy froze funding for the program and vowed to “recalibrate” implementation.

I was just thinking about a Tesla, but would Georgia buy in? 

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