Delaware approves the Advanced Clean Car II Act

The mandate will require automobile manufacturers in the state to hit a certain percentage of zero-emission vehicle sales each year, which will increase gradually between 2027 and 2032. The rules will be in place beginning Jan. 2, 2026, for model year 2027 vehicles.

The new Advanced Clean Car II Act was approved by Secretary Shawn Garvin on Wednesday, November 29. Similarly to the California mandate, this ruling will require automobile manufacturers in the state to hit a certain percentage of zero-emission vehicle sales each year, which will increase gradually between 2027 and 2032.

The phasing in of electric vehicles will begin in model year 2027, with a planned 43% of new cars and trucks sent to Delaware for sale to be zero-emission vehicles. This percentage will gradually increase to 82% by 2032, and the mandate is set to expire by model year 2033. Unlike the mandate in California, these mandates don’t go as far as the original plan of reaching 100% zero-emission vehicles on the roads by 2035.

Again, the US politicians are wary of appearing to be legislating out combustion engines, instead incentivizing manufacturers to do so. Furthermore, larger vehicles like semi-trucks, school buses and delivery trucks are completely exempt from this mandate.

New Jersey also recently introduced a very similar mandate, however, the US state did not shy away from banning the sale of combustion passenger vehicles by 2035.

delawareonline.com, delaware.gov (PDF)