Boost for electric cars as US brings in toughest climate rules yet

Caroline Anders
·4 min read
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A majority of new cars sold in the United States will be hybrid or electric by 2032 under a landmark climate regulation issued Wednesday that is being lauded as one of the most significant in the country’s history.

While a more gradual shift than the Environmental Protection Agency sought, the new tailpipe pollution limits mark a win for the Biden administration, which has put electric vehicles at the center of its push to fight climate change.

“Today, we’re setting new pollution standards for cars and trucks,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “U.S. workers will lead the world on autos making clean cars and trucks, each stamped ‘Made in America.’ You have my word.”

The emissions limits will “transform the American automobile market,” The New York Times reported, increasing electric car sales from less than 8% of new vehicle sales currently to the new goal of 56%.

By 2032, most new cars sold in the U.S. will likely be zero-emissions models, which the EPA estimates will prevent the release of more than seven billion tons of carbon dioxide over the next 30 years.

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Auto industry says emissions rules are ‘still a stretch goal’

Sources:  The Guardian, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal

After lobbying extensively to pump the brakes on the EPA’s initial timeline for bringing in the new limits, the auto industry broadly welcomed the revised plan.

“The right pace for something this consequential and transformative … gives us a chance to secure [the] manufacturing and industrial base needed for long term success,” the president of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents companies producing most new cars sold in the U.S., said Wednesday. However, he said that the rules were still “a stretch goal.”

Carmakers had warned the Biden administration that a too-fast rollout would “get ahead of consumers,” The Wall Street Journal reported. The agreed-upon timeline is a “recognition that the transition to electric cars will take longer than hoped” that will give Americans time to warm to electric vehicles as production processes are streamlined and more chargers are installed around the country, the publication wrote.

“At the end of the day, this is going to be up to consumers,” Stephanie Brinley, an automotive analyst at S&P Global Mobility, told The New York Times.

Electric vehicles have become a divisive political issue

Sources:  The New York Times, The Verge, Politico

Part of Biden’s calculus in making concessions to automakers was to address concerns raised by United Auto Workers, the largest car manufacturers union in the country, which has endorsed the president in his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election. But Republicans are trying to drive a wedge between autoworkers and their employers, saying that Biden’s plan represents a government overreach that will only benefit the wealthy. Democrats counter that as well as the clear environmental benefits, aggressive support for electric vehicles will boost the economy.

The diametrically opposed views mean voters with strong feelings about electric vehicles are seen as likely to turn out in big numbers this November. Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has railed against electric vehicles and promised to roll back Biden’s climate programs if reelected.

Framing EVs exclusively around job creation is a mistake, climate nonprofit says

Source:  Semafor

U.S. politicians on both sides of the aisle are making a mistake by framing support for electric vehicles exclusively in terms of how they impact jobs, Potential Energy, a nonprofit that focuses on climate marketing, argued in a new report. It said that “politicians of all stripes would be better off focusing their EV-related messaging on affordability, choice, and the cars’ impact on pollution,” Semafor’s Prashant Rao reported.

After testing messaging around electric cars, they found that the human argument around which vehicle to buy works better than the economic case, which leaves voters cold.

“If I’m advising a leader on how to communicate this — any leader, on both sides — I would say, ‘Every American should have the right to make their next car a clean car,’” Potential’s founder and CEO told Rao in an interview.