President Joe Biden test drives the Hummer EV during a tour of the General Motors Factory ZERO electric vehicle assembly plant, Wednesday, November 17, 2021, in Detroit. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)
In an effort to minimize the number of gasoline-powered vehicles sold in America, regulators are planning strict rules that would force manufacturers to produce many more electric vehicles. Claire Bushey and Aime Williams report in the Financial Times:
US environmental regulators on Wednesday proposed tough new emissions limits that would force carmakers to make 67 per cent of their American models electric by 2032.
EPA administrator Michael Regan called it “the most ambitious pollution standards ever for cars and trucks”. It would significantly increase EVs share of the new vehicle market, which stood at about 7 per cent in 2022.
The proposed rule would limit tailpipe emissions across all the vehicles in a carmaker’s fleet, forcing companies to make more battery-powered vehicles to meet the new standard. It would affect models built starting in 2027 through to 2032.
The proposal would also curb air pollution, boosting the US’s chance of achieving its Paris Agreement pledge to lower emissions by 50-52 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. The rules would also force carmakers to speed up their timetables for electrification, and in doing so tilt the US car market towards EVs even as they remain more expensive than vehicles with traditional engines.
General Motors, Ford and Stellantis have pledged to make between 40-50 per cent of their US sales electric by 2030, and they have invested billions of dollars in developing new models and building factories. But there are questions about whether the carmakers can build cheaper electric vehicles, which continue to cost more than gas-powered equivalents.
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