The US Environmental Protection Agency is on track to propose and enact new cuts in vehicle pollution emissions as of next week. This new policy will ultimately sweep electric car sales sky high. The proposed rules are to cover 2027 through 2032 model years, resulting in an estimated 50% of the US vehicle fleet being electric or hybrid by 2030. These rules are working in line with President Biden’s emissions goal, pledged back in 2021.
California has shown their aggressive stance on zero-emission cars and how their efforts are pushing them towards phasing out the sale of gas-fueled vehicles by 2030. One of the main questions now is whether or not these new rules are going to align with the determination of California’s. California Air Resources Board Executive Officer Steven Cliff stated that the rules set in California can be a great outline and model for the new ones to work off of. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group that represents almost all automotive brands, stated Thursday that the industry backs the goal of shifting to fully EV.
One stated concern by the automotive industry is whether or not the Biden Administration will have them put significant amounts of money into improving combustion engine vehicles, only to be wasted from the phase out in the upcoming years. "Every dollar invested in internal combustion technology is a dollar not spent on zero carbon technology," stated the Alliance.
Following the EV shift, public environmentalists also want the EPA to mandate and develop regulation standards for the gas-fueled combustion engine vehicles that will be on the road for decades to come. The shift in car sales does not halt the vehicles still in use by citizens. California has also not sent a formal request for the phase out of gas-fueled vehicles to the Biden Administration, as they need approval to commence.
In the next coming weeks, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans on proposing new fuel economy standards. All of these combined efforts working in tandem will push the US one step closer in achieving significant reductions in emissions, and reaching the global goal of staying under 2C, as stated by the Paris Agreement.
