WASHINGTON—The GOP-led Senate voted Thursday to take away California’s ability to set its own tailpipe emissions standards, effectively killing the country’s biggest driver of EV investment.The vote was 51-44.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to block California’s first-in-the-nation regulations that would ban the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger vehicles statewide in 2035, setting up a certain legal battle over the future of electric cars in the United States.

California’s authority to set environmental rules that are tougher than national standards had never been challenged by Congress. Until now.