Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D.) halted his state's enforcement of its aggressive electric vehicle mandate law, citing the Trump administration's withholding of federal funds and concerns from automakers.
In a little-noticed executive order signed Friday, Moore pointed to the Trump administration's policies reversing Biden-era regulations pushing EVs. "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.
Moore's order Friday also acknowledged his state's lagging EV sales, stating that the mandate "will be too difficult to meet in Maryland." Maryland's law requires that 43 percent of all model year 2027 cars sold in the state must be electric, meaning the mandate would take effect in late 2026. According to the latest data, however, just 13.2 percent of new car sales in Maryland are electric, far short of the law's requirement.
The action is a blow to left-wing politicians and activists who pushed a nationwide transition from gas-powered vehicles to EVs. And it is a victory for both President Donald Trump, who campaigned on scrapping EV mandates, and the auto industry, which has opposed such mandates as impractical.
"You’re welcome, Maryland! Thanks to our ongoing review of NEVI, more and more states are realizing their constituents shouldn’t be forced to buy more expensive vehicles to satisfy a woke climate agenda," a Transportation Department spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon. "DOT is committed to fixing the mess [that the] last administration created and lowering transportation costs for the American people."
Moore's order is also a blow to California's nation-leading climate efforts as the Maryland EV law was first made possible by California's EV mandate. The 1970 Clean Air Act allows California to issue vehicle emissions regulations that are stricter than federal emissions standards and for other states like Maryland to adopt those regulations.
In December, the Biden administration issued a waiver in December green-lighting California's Advanced Clean Cars rules, which Maryland and 11 other states have adopted. The California rules take effect next year and progressively become stricter until 2035 when every new car must be electric.
The Trump administration said in February that it would seek to revoke the Biden-era waiver.
"Hats off to Governor Moore for standing up for Maryland drivers and protecting vehicle choice with this executive order delaying Maryland’s looming and unachievable gas vehicle ban," John Bozzella, the president and CEO of auto industry group Alliance for Automotive Innovation, said in a statement.
"Like governors in Connecticut and Virginia, Governor Moore understood what was happening in his state – not enough customers or sufficient charging infrastructure for a mandatory 3.5-fold increase in EV sales next year," he continued. "Maryland wasn’t ready for these EV mandates. Other governors facing similar challenges should follow suit and stand up for vehicle choice by pulling their states from the gas vehicle bans too."
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