Lawfare: Elon Musk’s Tesla Advocates for Stricter Fuel Economy Standards on Gas Cars

Elon Musk’s Tesla is championing a call for the implementation of stricter fuel economy standards and the termination of a credit program that currently benefits automakers selling gas-powered vehicles alongside electric vehicles (EVs).

Bloomberg reports that Tesla, the frontrunner in the increasingly crowded EV industry, is advocating to the Biden White House for a significant increase in fuel economy standards. The automaker is urging the government to adopt a more rigorous approach, pushing all car manufacturers to achieve an  average of nearly 75 miles-per-gallon by the year 2032. Such regulation favors companies like Tesla that exclusively make plug-in EVs while harming companies that make gas-powered vehicles desired by Americans.

In a detailed commentary posted online, Tesla outlined its perspective, emphasizing the necessity of also winding down a credit program that it claims favors traditional automakers. This program has been a subject of criticism, as it allows automakers to offset the sales of traditional gasoline-powered vehicles with credits obtained from their electric vehicle offerings.

“Carmakers have been allowed to claim an equivalent of more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) per gallon for each EV in their lineup, allowing them to meet fleetwide mandates even as they sell conventional gas guzzlers,” Musk’s company noted.

Tesla articulated that the existing credit system “creates asymmetry in the regulation favoring ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicles, diverts research and development investment away from the best emissions reduction technology of electrification, and unnecessarily weakens the stringency of the standard.”

Musk’s Tesla has been a major beneficiary of the current credit system by selling its credits to other companies, but foresees a decline in revenue from regulatory credit sales as the market witnesses a surge in electric vehicles from competitors.

Read more at Bloomberg here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.