State regulators said the measures would probably have been rejected by the Trump administration and that they would focus on homegrown legal strategies instead.
The Trump administration is expected to revoke the program, setting up a legal clash between the state and federal government.
California and 11 other states want to halt the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to try to stop them.
The shift, which could reshape the American auto market, is designed to encourage sales of electric vehicles and hybrids.
The regulations would require automakers to produce more electric vehicles and hybrids by gradually tightening limits on tailpipe pollution.
Here’s what the rule is, and what it’s not: A ban on gas cars.
The change to planned rules was an election-year concession to labor unions and auto executives, according to people familiar with the plan.
The grants and loans, provided under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, are meant to keep autoworkers’ jobs in their communities.
The proposal is designed to help speed the country’s transition to electric vehicles, one of the president’s signature efforts to fight climate change.
The E.P.A.’s plan is “neither reasonable nor achievable,” the lobbying group said, using strong language in the face of the urgency to cut planet-warming emissions from vehicles.