Achi news desk-
The Biden administration on Wednesday completed one of the most significant pieces of its ambitious climate agenda: the strongest new tailpipe rules for passenger cars and trucks that will push the US auto market decisively toward electric and hybrid vehicles.
But in a concession to carmakers and trade unions, the rules will be phased in more slowly than originally proposed and will give carmakers more choices on how to comply.
Almost a year ago, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a fast ramp for electric vehicles—a rule that would have ensured that two-thirds of all vehicles sold were electric by the end of this decade. The EPA pumped the brakes on that plan on Wednesday.
Instead of pushing automakers to sell more EVs to meet strict pollution targets, the administration is allowing plug-in hybrids — vehicles that combine gas engines and batteries similar to an EV — to play a much bigger role in the electric transition.
In 2023, electric vehicles accounted for just 7.6% of new car sales, according to Kelley Blue Book. The new rule targets 35% to 56% for electric vehicles in 2032, and 13% to 36% for plug-in hybrids.
Transportation has a huge impact on the climate, accounting for nearly a third of all US climate pollution, so even small steps can lead to significant change. Margo Oge, former head of the agency’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, called the new standard “the most important climate regulation in the history of the country.”
In a statement on Wednesday, President Joe Biden promised that the cars would be made by American workers. “U.S. workers will lead the world in making clean cars and trucks, all stamped ‘Made in America,'” Biden said. “You have my word.”
Federal officials said the rule does not favor electric vehicles over other types of vehicles, and will cut nearly as much pollution as the original proposal — more than 7 billion metric tons of planet-warming emissions, plus other pollution that harmful to people. health. By 2032, the new rule is expected to cut passenger car pollution by almost half compared to 2026 levels.
“Within those ranges, we got to the same place” as the standard proposed last year, said Joe Goffman, who heads the agency’s Office of Air and Radiation.
Goffman said the agency considered different ways automakers could “mix and match” new vehicle models to meet the standard – by using more efficient gasoline engines, hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles.
The White House’s national climate adviser, Ali Zaidi, said that “one of the very strong features” of the new rule was its flexibility.
“Different automakers are going to approach this in different ways,” Zaidi said. “You’ll have some automakers that have maybe a third of their fleet in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.” Zaidi argued that would “turn into a lot of choice for consumers.”
Automakers have flexibility
Automakers like Toyota, which favor hybrids and plug-in hybrids and are slow to move on EVs, could be big benefactors of the new EPA rule.
Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, is among the companies that pushed back aggressively against the Biden administration’s original proposal.
In a memo sent in the fall of 2023 to auto dealers across the United States, Toyota Motor North America group’s vice president of government affairs, Stephen Ciccone, described the EPA’s original EV proposal as “mandatory” and “strict,” CNN recently reported. Ciccone wrote that the proposal caused an “existential crisis” in the industry and suggested an option that gives automakers more choice.
“Toyota’s position is that the best way to reduce carbon is by giving consumers a choice of powertrain options, including hybrids, plug-in hybrids, fuel cells, fuel-efficient ICE vehicles, and BEVs,” he wrote Ciccone.
That flexibility is what the EPA decided on Wednesday. But Toyota continued to characterize the EPA rule as a “regulatory mandate” that will force it further into the EV game than it is currently positioned.
The rule “requires a sharp shift from around 8% of the market share of battery electric vehicles today to more than half by 2032 – an aggressive, sixfold increase over just eight years,” Toyota spokesman Edward Lewis said. , in a statement. “Toyota will continue to lead the industry and comply with regulations, but serious challenges in affordability, charging infrastructure, and the supply chain will need to be addressed before realizing this mandate.”
President Joe Biden has made the transition to EVs a significant issue of his presidency, emphasizing the economic effects, as well as the climate benefits, of cutting pollution. In August 2021, after the president announced an ambitious target that by 2030 half of the vehicles sold in the country would be either battery electric, fuel cell electric or plug-in hybrid, Biden test- driving a hybrid-electric Jeep on the White House grounds.
But political battle lines are being drawn around the EV transition. Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, has argued against EVs in his speeches. He recently characterized EVs as “everything” being made in China, even though the Democrats’ Anti-Inflation Act has pushed the manufacturing and assembly of new electric vehicles to the United States.
With the new standard giving automakers more flexibility, EPA administrator Michael Regan dismissed the characterization that the agency is imposing an “EV mandate.”
“When you look at the differences between the proposal and the final, you will see that there is absolutely no mandate,” Regan told reporters, adding that his agency remains “well within the bounds of the law.”
It’s not just Trump; some of Biden’s political allies are also worried about the jump to EVs. The United Auto Workers, a powerful union that has endorsed Biden, has also expressed concerns about what the switch to EVs could mean for its workers, who believe less labor is needed to build cars that are battery powered.
But demand for fully electric cars is growing in the US The nation crossed a key threshold at the end of last year: 1.2 million electric vehicles were sold – a 46.3% jump from 2022.
Electric vehicle adoption rates are likely to slow this year, which is to be expected, said Trevor Houser, a partner at the nonpartisan Rhodium Group. He’s looking for two main signs of electric vehicle success in the coming years: whether automakers can make a wide enough variety of the vehicles Americans want to drive, and whether the cost can come down to a more affordable range of US$20,000 to US$30,000.
“We won’t really know until (2025) how successful we are in making that transition because the next generation of more affordable EVs won’t be on the market,” Houser told CNN.
Zaidi agreed that it would take time to see if more Americans move to fully electric cars.
“That’s something we’ll see over time,” Zaidi said. “But this rule is very flexible and allows all those avenues to emerge, and for (manufacturers) to pursue those in a manner consistent with their strategies.”
Climate and health effects
Although the impact of the tailpipe rules on the climate has attracted the most attention, there is also a large public health component.
Reducing pollution from cars and trucks could help Americans’ health on many levels, as the EPA’s multi-pollution standards will address climate-changing greenhouse gases, smog and particulate emissions.
No amount of air pollution is safe, and according to the World Health Organization, it is one of the biggest environmental risks to human health.
Vehicle exhaust contains all kinds of pollutants, including carbon monoxide, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and carbon emissions that contribute to global warming, which itself is a major health threat.
Exposure to particulate pollution ages and reduces lung function, and can lead to cancer, stroke, heart problems, COPD and other lung and vascular issues. It can worsen asthma and is linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other types of dementia, according to studies. People exposed to higher amounts of this pollution for longer periods are also at increased risk of depression and anxiety. Exposure can even contribute to problems thinking clearly.
Particle pollution led to more than 107,000 premature deaths in the US in just one year, one 2019 study found. That’s more than the number of people killed each year in homicides and traffic accidents combined , researchers said.
“These standards really provide communities across America with much-needed relief from vehicle exhaust,” said Will Barrett, the American Lung Association’s senior director of clean air advocacy. “It sets a strong direction to ensure the car industry cleans up harmful pollutants and communities are better protected from traffic emissions.”
