Washington has a long way to go to reach EV goal

As enthusiastic as electric car owners are about their vehicles, Washington still has a long way to go to meet its requirement that 35 percent of new passenger vehicle sales be electric by 2026.

A new report from the Washington Policy Center shows during the first two months of 2025, 21.7 percent of new car sales statewide were electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, with Clark County’s numbers trailing behind that.

“For 2024, 20.8 percent of newly registered vehicles were EV or PHEV. Teslas were 52 percent of all new EVs sold in Clark County in 2024, and in the first two months of 2025, were 37 percent of all new EVs. The second most popular in 2024 was Kia with 8 percent and 9 percent, so far this year,” Todd Myers, vice president for Washington Policy Center, said in an email.

While the statewide numbers show a slight improvement from the 20.9 percent of sales in 2024, the Seattle-based nonprofit cautions that is well below the 35 percent mandate that goes into effect next year.

“The result could be increased costs for new cars or that buyers go to states like Idaho without the requirement,” Myers said. “Although the mandate is sold as a climate-friendly policy, the requirement does nothing to reduce CO2 emissions beyond the state’s existing CO2 cap.”

Washington is one of 17 states to adopt more rigorous regulations based on California’s vehicle standards. The new regulations, which apply to manufacturers, are intended to increase the number of electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles available to buyers. They also require new gas-powered cars sold in the state to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

House Republicans introduced a bill during the current legislative session that would have uncoupled Washington from California’s emissions standards, but the bill failed to move forward for a hearing.

“At the current rate of increase, about 25 percent of new cars will meet the requirements next year, about 29 percent below the goal,” Myers said.

Caroline Halter from the Washington Department of Ecology’s climate pollution reduction program was far more optimistic about meeting next year’s mandate.

“Manufacturers have been able to generate credits for electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid sales since 2023, so they are already in a great position to meet that requirement whether or not they get to the 35 percent mark,” Halter said Monday. “They also have credits from 2024 sales and 2025 sales built up. … You can’t just look at what the sales are right now and say, ‘Oh no, we’re not at 35 percent or close enough to 35 percent so that means that we’re not going to hit that target,’ because there’s a bank of credits that have already been generated.”

Here’s how the credit works. For manufacturers like Tesla, Rivian and Genesis, 100 percent of their car sales are EVs or PHEVs. For other car makers, such as Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, etc., EV/PHEV sales may only account for 5 percent to 10 percent of their sales. These manufacturers can purchase the “extra” credits beyond the state’s 35 percent mandate generated by Tesla and others to make up the difference.

Halter said 2023’s EV/PHEV sales generated 200,000 credits alone.

“I think the important news is that our EV ownership in Washington continues to grow, and we are one of the leading states in the country in transitioning away from dirtier and more expensive fuels for our transportation to cleaner and cheaper fuels,” said Michael Mann, executive director for the Clean and Prosperous Institute, a nonprofit based in Seattle.

Over the past decade, state leaders and environmental nonprofits have been working to identify ways to increase EV/PHEV ownership, Mann said.

“There are a lot of Washingtonians that are buying EVs and will continue to do so,” Mann said.

As with any market transition, Mann said it takes time to make the switch. Incentives like the $2,500-$9,000 rebate the state offered last year can help car buyers make the switch sooner.

“The other thing that we know from research and data is that having the charging infrastructure available for people as they transition is really important. In the last legislative session, the Legislature allocated over $150 million to purchase incentives and infrastructure, and we are urging them to match that this year and to continue to invest in building out that infrastructure so more and more people feel comfortable transitioning to electricity,” Mann said.

When Vancouver resident Troy Maxcy purchased his Ford F-150 Lightning last year, he applied the federal rebate to his taxes.

“That was not necessarily a deciding factor. It was a nice bonus,” he said. “You know if the federal government wants us to push past a tipping point, they’re going to incentivize us to buy solar panels or buy EVs or something like that.”

Maxcy said he has been happy with his vehicle’s performance and doesn’t have any complaints. One thing he really likes is saving $200 to $300 a month by not having to stop for gas.

If there’s an obstacle, he said, it’s charging infrastructure.

“The infrastructure is not quite where we would like to see it yet. I personally think that, eventually, you’re going to see traditional service stations or gas stations putting in electric charging stations,” he said.

Vancouver attorney Erin McAleer purchased two electric vehicles, a Mercedes-Benz EQS 580 in December 2022 and a Tesla S Plaid for his wife, Natalya, in August 2024. He took advantage of the federal rebate when he bought his wife’s Tesla.

He said the purchase price for electric vehicles can be steep, but ongoing savings help bring overall costs down. He said he and his wife each save several hundred dollars each month on gas, and that other than tires and brakes, maintenance costs are nearly nonexistent.

“It’s kind of hard to go back (to gas-powered cars) because most of these electrics are very fast, very torquey, very fun to drive,” Erin McAleer said. “Not going to the gas station is fantastic. I always seem to run around between counties, doing what I do, and I tended to find that I was always out of gas when I needed to go to Cowlitz County for a case or out to Skamania (County).”

Last year’s state EV rebate program, which was geared to low- and middle-income earners, ran through its funding in three months. Whether the state will bring back the rebate program this year remains to be seen. The state Department of Commerce, which oversees the program, said no decision has been made yet.

Shari Phiel: [email protected]; 360-562-6317; @Shari_Phiel

About the project: Community Funded Journalism is a project from The Columbian and the Local Media Foundation that is funded by community member donations including The Cowlitz Tribal Foundation. The Columbian maintains editorial control over all content. For more information, visit columbian.com/cfj.