CNN
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The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed ambitious new car pollution rules that could require electric vehicles to account for up to two-thirds of new cars sold in the United States by 2032, in what would be one of the policy changes more aggressive climate policies of the Biden administration. yet.
Tailpipe rules would also have the effect of halving global warming pollution from cars. According to the EPA, transportation accounts for nearly 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the US.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the regulations are “the strongest federal pollution standards for cars and trucks.”
“Together, these actions will accelerate the ongoing transition to a clean vehicle future, address the climate crisis and improve our air quality for communities across the country,” Regan added.
EPA officials said they are considering several different emissions proposals, which could lead to an electric vehicle adoption rate of 64 percent to 69 percent by the beginning of the next decade. If approved, the emissions standards would begin on vehicles in 2027.
The agency projects that the new rule would mean electric vehicles could also make up nearly half of all new medium-duty vehicles, such as delivery trucks, by the 2032 model year. Officials are also proposing stricter standards for to heavy vehicles, including tipper trucks, public services. school and transit trucks and buses.
One expert told CNN that the Biden administration’s proposal is a watershed moment for the US auto industry and consumers.
“It’s very important,” said Thomas Boylan, a former Environmental Protection Agency official and regulatory director of the electric vehicle trade group Zero Emission Transportation Association. “This will really set the tone for the rest of the decade and into the 2030s in terms of what this administration is looking to do for the auto industry to decarbonize and ultimately electrify.”
Regan and White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi hailed the proposed regulation as a major climate victory that would also save American consumers money in the years to come.
Zaidi said that during the first years of the Biden administration, the number of electric vehicles on US roads had already tripled, while the number of public charging stations had doubled. And Zaidi promised more to come, with funding from Biden’s infrastructure law for a network of electric vehicle charging stations combined with consumer tax credits.
“Whether you measure today’s announcements by dollars saved, gallons reduced or pollution no longer pumped into the air, this is a win for the American people,” Zaidi said.
However, even as the administration is writing aggressive regulations to push the market toward electric vehicles, a Gallup poll released Wednesday suggests Americans are still not sold on the idea. Gallup polled more than 1,000 US adults last month and found that 41% said they would not buy an electric vehicle.
Not only are electric vehicles still more expensive than gas cars, but consumers have yet to grasp the climate benefits of transitioning to zero-emission vehicles, the survey found. Six in 10 respondents said they believe electric vehicles help the environment “only a little” or “not at all,” Gallup reported.
Transportation is the largest source of global warming pollution in the US, and light-duty vehicles, the average car Americans drive, account for 58% of those emissions. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported last year that aggressive, pollution-reducing changes in the global transport sector, including a transition to electric vehicles, could reduce the sector’s emissions by more than 80%
“This is what we mean when we say that addressing the climate crisis is about creating opportunity — an opportunity to put America on a clear path to winning the jobs and industries of the 21st century,” Regan said.
Other countries, including the EU and China, are moving faster towards the adoption of electric vehicles. In the US, California has already proposed that zero-emission vehicles make up 70% of new car sales by 2030, and 17 other states plan to follow California’s lead.
That means much of the U.S. auto industry will already be in transition before the proposed federal rule.
“I think it’s pretty doable,” Margo Oge, president of the International Clean Transportation Council and a former Obama EPA official, said of the aggressive transition to electric vehicles. “The industry is there. Europe is ahead of the US, China is ahead of Europe and these companies are global companies.”
New federal tax credits are coming next week that aim to help American consumers save up to $7,500 on an electric vehicle. But they have incredibly complex requirements for the auto industry, including that car batteries and components come from the US or countries with which it has a free trade agreement.
However, Boylan said the regulations are designed to work gradually over the next decade, at which point consumers should have many more electric vehicle options to choose from.
“You have the tax credits as the carrot,” Boylan said. The proposed tailpipe regulation “provides the pole to support these incentives and drive the industry forward.”
EPA will accept public comments on the proposal before finalizing a rule in the coming months.
