Biden emission rules target gas cars with more than half of sales to be electric by 2032
The Biden administration finalized its crackdown on gas cars Wednesday, with the Environmental Protection Agency announcing drastic climate regulations meant to ensure more than two-thirds of passenger cars and light trucks sold by 2032 are electric or hybrid vehicles.
The EPA rule imposes strict limits on tailpipe pollution, limits the agency says can be met if 56% of new vehicles sold in the US are electric by eight years from now, along with 13% that are plug-in hybrids or other partially electric cars.
That would be a huge increase over current EV sales, which rose to 7.6% of new vehicle sales last year, up from 5.8% in 2022.
The rules unveiled Wednesday are a scaled-down version of regulations proposed last April and withdrawn after backlash from the auto industry, but still represent the most aggressive attack on internal combustion of any country in the world.
The new rule slows implementation of stricter pollution standards from 2027 through 2029, before ramping up to near the level the EPA preferred by 2032.
“Our final rule delivers the same, if not more, pollution reduction than we set out in our proposal,’’ EPA Administrator Michael Regan told reporters, adding the rules would prevent more than 7 billion tons of carbon emissions over the next three decades and provide nearly $100 billion in benefits including lower health care costs, and more than $60 billion in reduced annual costs for fuel, maintenance and repairs.
“These new standards are so important,” he said, “for public health, for American jobs, for our economy and for our planet.”
Industry groups slammed the regulations, with the American Petroleum Institute saying they would “make new gas-powered vehicles unavailable or prohibitively expensive for most Americans. For them, this wildly unpopular policy is going to feel and function like a ban.
“Whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, Congress has to make a decision whether to protect consumer choice, US manufacturing workers and our hard-won energy security by overturning this deeply flawed regulation,” it added. “Short of that, our organizations are certainly prepared to challenge it in court.”
“These regulations represent yet another step toward an unrealistic transition to electric vehicles that Americans do not want and cannot afford,” added Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV).
As Biden faces a tight re-election battle, he is juggling his stated commitment to lowering greenhouse emissions while courting the auto manufacturing industry, whose voters are a key demographic in battleground states like Michigan.
Former President Donald Trump and Biden’s Republican opponents have accused the president of handing the economic advantage to China with the restrictions, since many electric vehicles are manufactured in America’s great geopolitical rival..
“He’s selling you out to China,” Trump told a crowd of Michigan auto workers in September. “He’s selling you out to the environmental extremists and the radical left.”
