Southeast New Mexico auto dealers say new electric vehicle mandate 'definitely difficult'

Auto dealers in Carlsbad and throughout New Mexico lambasted new requirements for them to sell more electric vehicles in the next two years enacted by the New Mexico Environment Department that were recently upheld amid a legal challenge.

The mandate known as the Advanced Clean Cars II Standards required dealers’ fleets offered for sale in New Mexico be 42 percent electric or zero-emission vehicles (EVs) by 2026, increasing to 82 percent by 2032. The rules were a means of reducing air pollution in the transportation sector, but auto dealers worried the rules could impact their sales as they contended demand for EVs was low in New Mexico and the state lacked an adequate charging network to support customer needs.

New Mexico’s Environmental Improvement Board on April 5 rejected a motion from the New Mexico Auto Dealer’s Association to stay the new rules, which would have effectively blocked them from taking effect, in a 4-1 vote.

More: Auto dealers look to block New Mexico electric vehicle mandate enacted last year

Brayden Resler, sales manager at Tate Auto Branch in Carlsbad said the rural area saw motorists often driving long distances to bigger cities to shop or seek medical care. He said charging stations along New Mexico’s highways were limited, which could dissuade customers from buying EVs.

Resler said the mandate would limit the amount of gas power vehicles available for sale in Carlsbad and New Mexico, leading many customers to instead travel over the border to Texas to buy cars and trucks.

“It’s definitely difficult,” Resler said of the new rules. “It’s not helping us. In this region, there’s not enough charging infrastructure to satisfy customers. It’s a negative impact on us.”

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The State of New Mexico did plan to increase available chargers for EVs on interstate highways first, using $38 million in federal funds to erect charging stations along interstates, then on other highways and state roads known for high traffic.

There is no interstate highway that flows through far southeast New Mexico in Eddy and Lea counties. Interstate 10 enters New Mexico from its southwestern border with Texas near El Paso, and continues west through the bootheel region to Tucson, Arizona. Interstate 40 enters New Mexico at its eastern border near Clovis and stretches due west through Albuquerque toward Arizona.

Highly trafficked highways like U.S. Highway 285 that flows south from a junction with I-25 near Santa Fe through Eddy County could see chargers being built only after the interstates get theirs, according to New Mexico’s plan.

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“I don’t think the infrastructure will be ready (by 2026),” Resler said. “We have too many long-distances drivers. You can’t make it that far with an EV or truck the way things are now.”

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Republicans attack EV mandate as ‘out of touch’

The New Mexico GOP agreed. The Party’s chairman Steve Pearce said electric vehicles are also expensive, contending they sell “upwards of $50,000." Automotive research company Kelley Blue Book reported the average EV transaction as of July 2023 was $53,469. That’s $5,135 or about 11 percent more on average than Kelley Blue Book’s reported average of $48,334 for gas-powered vehicles.

Republican lawmakers introduced Senate Memorial 2 during the 2024 Legislative Session that concluded in February to repeal the mandate. SM 2 died before receiving a committee hearing or vote.

More: Republicans want to repeal New Mexico's electric vehicle requirement

“Only politicians entirely out-of-touch with the financial struggles facing hard-working New Mexicans would mandate they make a $50,000 purchase by drastically limiting their other options,” Pearce said.

He said the mandate was part of a pattern by the administration of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to impeded New Mexicans’ rights.

“The repeated government overreach under the Democratic Lujan Grisham administration is deeply disturbing,” Pearce said in a statement. “We need to take our state back, and the only way to do that is to break up the Democratic monopoly that has become too bloated with power and is continually overstepping into the lives of New Mexicans.”

More: 'Clean fuels' bill advances in New Mexico Senate, to make oil companies pay for pollution

Environmental groups in New Mexico applauded state officials for pushing forward with the clean car standards amid pressure from the GOP and auto industry to reverse course.

Do New Mexicans want electric vehicles?

Camilla Feibelman, director of the Sierra Club’s Rio Grande Chapter said the rules would mean EVs more available in New Mexico for consumers. Coupled with multiple bills passed during the session, the new standards, Feibelman said would help reduce pollution in New Mexico and take action on climate change.

“The Lujan Grisham administration is listening to New Mexicans even if auto dealers are not. After an extensive expert and evidence-based hearing in the fall and customer after customer saying they’re not finding the EVs they want in the state, the rules passed,” Feibelman said.

“Then the legislature passed both EV tax credits and clean transportation fuel standards to support the drive toward electrification, and the dealers still aren’t doing what their customers want.  Thankfully, the Environmental Improvement Board did.”

More: 'Fundamental disagreement' puts GOP and 'bureaucrats' in Santa Fe at odds for conservation

But Resler, the sales manager at Tate Auto Branch in Carlsbad, said his customers are not asking for EVs. He said about 40 percent of the Jeep Dodge Ram dealership’s sales are heavy-duty trucks related to activities like oil and gas. Those same customers are unlikely to make the change soon to EVs, Resler said.

“If all we had were EVs to offer, people would just go to Texas,” he said. “There’s pros and cons. As far as getting from one place to another in a big city, everything is close. In a place like Carlsbad, people have to drive long distances. I don’t think they (EVs) are bad, but the infrastructure just isn’t able to meet a mandate."

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Electric vehicle rules upheld by New Mexico amid local dealer anxiety