‘Going to make a weaker Delaware with worse air quality’

Dustyn Thompson, who heads Delaware’s chapter of the Sierra Club, said he’s disappointed by Meyer’s plan to eliminate the mandate.

Thompson predicted the move would both reduce sales of zero-emission vehicles in Delaware and damage air quality. He also said Meyer is assisting Republican President Donald Trump, who pledged during his Jan. 20 inaugural address that he would “revoke the electric vehicle mandate.” A total of 17 states — including New Jersey and Maryland, but not Pennsylvania — have adopted the California zero-emission vehicle standard known as Advanced Clean Cars II.

“It’s going to make a weaker Delaware with worse air quality and it’s going to do Trump’s job for him,” Thompson said. “So fundamentally, we don’t support either of those two things and by process of elimination, we don’t support pulling out of the program.”

Thompson said that since Carney enacted the mandate in November 2023, “we’re seeing far more in-state sales being registered in the state of Delaware than out-of-state sales being registered in the state of Delaware for clean cars. If we pull out, you can expect an exact opposite reaction to the market in Delaware.”

While Meyer didn’t specify how he would seek to terminate the mandate, Thompson speculated that the governor would have to go through the same process Carney did to put it in place: Give notice of his intention, hold public hearings and seek comments from the public before making it official in the Delaware Register of Regulations.

“We’re obviously going to advocate against pulling out of the program entirely, and of course targeting Meyer if that’s the route that we’re going to go through,” Thompson said.

Charlie Burton, president of the I.G. Burton chain of dealerships in Delaware, countered that while he sells EVs and owns one himself, he’s delighted that the governor plans to eliminate the mandate.

“I’m tickled to death,” Burton said. “I like the [electric] car. I’m not against the car. What I don’t want, and I don’t think the public wants, is to be told what stocking levels I have to do and what I have to sell and what they have to buy.

“I think that was the wrong approach to the car because it’s kind of like, ‘This is what your new thing is and you got to buy it.’ Whereas I think, ‘Hey, here’s an option, man. It’s electric, we got gas [vehicles] here, too.’ So I’m glad he’s getting rid of it, but the market’s not going to go away. There’s been too much investment in electric and battery development and all that. But in addition, it’s just a really great car.”

Burton’s Milford dealerships will be holding an event Saturday to showcase EVs and answer questions from prospective buyers.

Meyer’s assertion that the mandate will be stricken also comes after a legislative effort by Republican state Rep. Lyndon Yearick to eliminate it hit a roadblock in the Democrat-dominated state House.

Yearick’s bill was blocked by Democrats in the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee from advancing to the full House for a vote.

Told by WHYY News of Meyer’s remarks about ending the mandate, the Kent County lawmaker said he hopes the governor follows through and doesn’t backtrack.

“I’ll be cautiously optimistic,” Yearick said. “We want what I would view as the most favorable outcome in regard to our consumer’s choice here in Delaware. Hopefully, he does the right thing and strikes it from the regs.”

This story was supported by a statehouse coverage grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.