Citing environmental concerns, the Biden administration is aiming to implement a requirement for two thirds of all new cars built to be electric, as well as a quarter of heavy trucks, by 2032.
It’s a pretty ambitious plan, one that would overhaul auto industry and quite possible gut employment, as only 6% of currently produced cars are electric. And electric trucks? Those are just 2% of manufactured trucks currently.
EPA Director Michael Regen gave quite the statement to the NY Times saying, “By proposing the most ambitious pollution standards ever for cars and trucks, we are delivering on the Biden-Harris administration’s promise to protect people and the planet, securing critical reductions in dangerous air and climate pollution and ensuring significant economic benefits like lower fuel and maintenance costs for families.”
They’ll be using the Clean Air Act to require the manufacturing, although, interestingly enough, they can’t control what auto dealers can or cannot sell. A loophole would be, manufacturers could produce, tiny, easy and cheap to manufacture mini cars and just not sell them. The Biden administrations also wants for 46% of medium sized vans to be electric only as well.
Even the liberal labor leader of the chief auto workers union pushed back saying, “Yes, America’s transition to an electric and low-carbon transportation future is well underway. E.V. and battery manufacturing is ramping up across the country because automakers have self-financed billions to expand vehicle electrification. It’s also true that E.P.A.’s proposed emissions plan is aggressive by any measure.”
This is all to stop the world from getting 1.5 degrees warmer. Good luck with that.
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