California aims for 5 million green cars by 2030

California is to spend $2.5 billion on a plan to have 5 million 'green' cars on its roads by 2030, governor Jerry Brown (pictured) announced in his annual 'State of the State' speech. 

The money will fund an expansion of the U.S. state's EV charging stations to 250,000 and its hydrogen filling stations to 200 by 2025.

Increasing the number of low- or zero-emission vehicles should help California achieve its air quality ambition of producing 40% CO2 less than 1990 by 2030. In a follow-up statement, governor Brown points out that transport contributes 50% of the greenhouse gases produced in the state, and 80% of the polluting particles.  

The new 'green'-vehicle target is much more ambitious than the previous one: in 2012, California committed itself to having 1.5 million such vehicles on the road by 2025.

However, at the moment, both targets are still far off. California is the U.S.'s most populated state (40 million), and has the largest car market (14.5 million units). Despite a 1,300% growth in zero-emission vehicles over the past six years, their total in California today is no more than 350,000 units – about 2.5% of the total. 

Zero-emission vehicle sales make up no more than 5% of current vehicle sales in the state. To reach the new target, zero-emission vehicle sales growth would have to continue at its current high rate.