What’s Happening

The sale of electric vehicles was up substantially last year, a trend clean-car advocates hope will lead to New Jersey complying with its goal to have at least 330,000 EVs on the road by the end of 2025. 

The transition away from gas-powered vehicles to plug-in electric vehicles is a cornerstone of Gov. Phil Murphy’s climate strategy and one that has been among the more successful of the state’s clean-energy policies. And that is due, in part, to lucrative incentives. 

But the climate policy has grown more controversial in recent months as car dealers and business groups question whether the electrification goals are too aggressive and are unlikely be achieved in the time frame established under a 2020 law. The law is based on rules established by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). 

Last year, the number of plug-in electric vehicle registrations grew to 154,153 at the end of December, a significant increase from 91,727 EVs on the road at the close of 2022, according to Department of Environmental Protection data. Both light-duty vehicles and medium- and heavy-duty plug-in vehicles recorded the largest year-over-year growth ever seen in the state, according to ChargEVC-NJ, a coalition of retail auto dealers, utilities, consumers and environmental advocates. 

“This is the kind of growth in EV sales that we anticipated all along,’’ said Doug O’Malley, director of Environment New Jersey and a member of ChargEVC. “We are approaching an inflection point and we need to put our foot on the EV accelerator.’’ 

‘Stark reality’ 

Jim Appleton, president of the Coalition of Automotive Dealers, was less impressed, even while conceding the total number of EV registrations is good news. The CARB rules adopted by New Jersey have mandates for increasing annual sales of EVs that are unlikely be met by the state, he said. 

“I’m sorry but it’s hard to applaud this progress and ignore the stark reality that the CARB rules require automakers and auto dealers to offer tens of thousands of vehicles for sale this year and for many years to come that New Jersey consumers don’t yet want, can’t yet afford and are not yet confident in the publicly available infrastructure needed to refuel,’’ Appleton said.  

The latter issue might have been reflected in the especially fast growth of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), up 91% in 2022, compared to a 13% increase the prior year. Plug-in hybrids use both gasoline and electricity to power the vehicle.  

‘We are approaching an inflection point and we need to put our foot on the EV accelerator.’ — Doug O’Malley, director, Environment New Jersey

Some speculated the hybrid growth was spurred by concern among drivers there are not enough electric charging stations situated across the state, but ChargEVC advocates argued mainstream consumers are increasingly drawn to the versatility of PHEV options. 

Appleton said the auto industry isn’t focused on the 330,000-sale milestone set by Murphy. He called it a meaningless number because it carries no penalty for not meeting it, while failure to meet the CARB mandate could lead to fines for automakers or restrictions on what type of vehicles can be shipped into New Jersey for sale. 

This year, the CARB mandate increases to 110,000 EVs and by 2027 that number grows to 185,000. Last year, the rule mandated the sale of more than 100,000 EVs, but consumers bought less than half of that, according to Appleton. 

While sales did grow, even clean-car advocates are worried that a proposal by Murphy to phase out the sales-tax exemption for EV purchases will stifle growth in the market. The proposal is in the budget Murphy proposed that is now being reviewed, and is likely to be changed, by the Legislature. 

“It is critical to keep the sales-tax exemption for EVs,’’ O’Malley said. “We need to incentivize EV sales, not penalize EV drivers.’’