Eight US states want to ban gas-powered cars by 2050

Eight US states plus eight countries across the globe want to ban new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2050, Car and Driver reports.

That means, in 35 years, California, Rhode Island, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, and Massachusetts - plus Oregon and Vermont - will prohibit automakers from selling new gas or diesel-powered vehicles in their states.

All of those states follow California's Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, a program essentially designed to increase the number of hybrid and electric vehicles on the road.

In addition to those eight states, Quebec, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany and the United Kingdom are vowing to implement the same ban.

The announcement falls on the same week as the UN Climate Change Conference that's happening in Paris.

There's no question about it - a day will come when there will be more plug-in vehicles on the road than those powered by gasoline.

Tesla Motors is among the carmakers helping to pave the way. Some up-and-comers like Faraday Future are trying to do the same.

In the US, however, hybrids and electric cars are still a long way from making a dent in the total number of vehicles sold. It'll be somewhere around 400,000 total by the end of 2015 - out of 16 to 17 million vehicles projected to be sold in that time.