Wyoming Lawmakers Are Gassed-Up Over Bill To Pull The Plug On EV Sales By 2035

You've probably seen numerous reports of US states moving to restrict the sale of internal combustion engines and encourage the shift to electric vehicles. It's become so common you might have misread the above headline, but it's no typo—lawmakers in Wyoming are actually considering a measure that would phase out EVs by 2035.

The state legislature introduced Senate Joint Resolution 4 (SJ4) last week with the backing of a group of Republican senators led by Jim Anderson. The lawmakers point to the importance of the oil and gas industry in Wyoming, which is the eighth-largest domestic producer of crude oil. Naturally, the move to electric transportation threatens that, but the bill includes numerous rationalizations like the cost of building out a charging infrastructure and the high cost of most current EVs.

This bill has support in the Senate and House of Representatives, both of which feature a Republican supermajority. Even if the bill is passed, it's unlikely anything in Wyoming will change, not now and not in 2035. The bill calls for residents and businesses to voluntarily limit the sale of EVs with the goal of ending sales completely in 2035. The authors point to the thousands of oil industry jobs in the state as justification for the stunt.

It's possible the law will be passed purely as a way to score political points—SJ4 includes a section directing that a copy of the enacted legislation be sent to President Biden and California Governor Gavin Newsom. However, with many larger states like California and New York (plus the federal government) pushing in the opposite direction, automakers will have to take heed. While Tesla and Chevy were out in front early with electric vehicles, other companies are catching up quickly, with GM and Honda planning major EVs expansions in the next few model years. There may not be very many internal combustion vehicles to go around in another decade, no matter how many laws the Wyoming legislature passes.