The Biden administration will outline aggressive automobile pollution limits Wednesday that require at least 54 percent of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030 and as many as two of every three by 2032.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drafted the tougher impositions for new cars and trucks as it set greenhouse gas emissions limits for the 2027 through 2032 model years for passenger vehicles that would be even stricter than goals the auto industry agreed to in 2021, the New York Times reports.
The new requirements come barely 24-hours after a study was released that showed a clear majority of Americans aren’t yet sold on going electric for their next cars, as Breitbart News reported.
High prices and too few charging stations are the main deterrents turning drivers away from electric vehicles (EVs).
About four in 10 U.S. adults are at least somewhat likely to switch, but making the historic shift from the country’s century-plus love affair with gas-driven vehicles still has a long road ahead.
Defying push back from consumers, the proposed new EPA limits would surpass President Joe Biden’s previous commitment to have EVs make up roughly 50 percent of cars sold by 2030 and accelerate the country’s clean energy transition.
Biden previously signed an executive order that set a target for half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 to be zero-emissions vehicles, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric or fuel cell electric vehicles.
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EV sales accounted for only 5.8 percent of all the 13.8 million new vehicles sold in the country last year, an increase from 3.1 percent the year before, according to data from the Kelley Blue Book.
Despite low electric vehicle usage rates the U.S. is the world’s third-largest market behind China and Europe.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan will announce the proposed limits later today at the agency headquarters in Washington. The limits will be made available for public review and comment and will likely face legal challenges.
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“This is a very ambitious proposal,” Regan said during a briefing with reporters on Tuesday. “This proposal solicits a number of ways to achieve these goals and we plan to strategically engage all our stakeholders.”
The E.P.A. cannot mandate that carmakers sell a certain number of electric vehicles.
But under the Clean Air Act, the agency can limit the pollution generated by the total number of cars each manufacturer sells. And the agency can set that limit so tightly the only way manufacturers can comply is to sell a certain percentage of zero emissions vehicles, the NYT piece makes clear.
Myron Ebell, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment, meanwhile accused the Biden administration of bending the rules to punish drivers.
“The Biden administration is trying to bend every federal rule they can find to force people into buying EVs. There is still a market that allows drivers to buy the vehicles of their choice, but government coercion is rapidly limiting those choices.
“If Biden policies are successful, we will soon have a choice between buying an EV and not being able to afford a vehicle at all,” Ebell concluded.