(Reuters) -About 19% of all cars sold in California last year were zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), accounting for 40% of all ZEV sales including hybrid vehicles in the United States, data showed.
United States President Joe Biden has called for 50% of all new vehicle sales by 2030 to be EVs or plug-in hybrids (PHEV).
California Governor Gavin Newsom first announced the plan in September 2020 to phase out vehicles that run only on gasoline by 2035, and the state last year moved to require all new vehicles sold in the state by 2035 to be PHEV or fully electric.
About 12% cars sold in California in 2021 were ZEVs.
A database collated by California’s Energy Commission showed on Friday that about 346,000 ZEVs were sold in California in 2022, with Tesla Inc’s Model 3 leading the sales charts, as about 95,000 of the electric vehicle was sold in the region.
Austin, Texas-based Tesla’s Model Y compact SUV came a close second, with about 94,000 cars being sold in the state.
Californians bought about 51,000 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles last year and about 80,000 electric vehicle chargers were installed in the state in 2022.
About 286,000 battery-electric vehicles with a range of 200 miles or more were sold in 2022.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)