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California has become the first state to adopt minimum energy-efficiency standards for replacement tires sold for passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks. The standards apply to covered tires manufactured on or after January 1, 2029, and become stricter on January 1, 2033. Covered tires must meet category-specific maximum rolling-resistance limits and a minimum wet-grip requirement, subject to specified exemptions.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) unanimously approved the regulations and expects nearly $1 billion annually in reduced gasoline and electricity expenditures by 2035, along with an annual reduction of approximately 2 million metric tons of carbon-dioxide-equivalent emissions.

The CEC estimates that the regulations will improve the overall energy efficiency of affected passenger and light-duty vehicles by approximately 2 percent. However, the regulation’s direct effect on global greenhouse gases would be extremely small. Its projected annual emissions reduction of 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equals approximately 1.9 percent of California passenger-vehicle emissions, about one-half of 1 percent of total California greenhouse-gas emissions, and roughly 0.004 percent of global annual greenhouse-gas emissions.

While some specialty tires are exempt, Discount Tire estimated that if the 2033 standards were applied to the tires it currently sells in California, roughly 70 percent of those options would not comply as presently designed and would therefore have to be redesigned, replaced, or removed from the California market.

The vote initially flew under the media radar. Although the CEC issued the required public notices and notified its tire-program mailing list, KCRA investigative reporter Ashley Zavala  wrote that the commission did not separately alert reporters when public comment began or when the vote was scheduled. Zavala said she learned about the vote from legislators and a........

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