Biden to announce stricter tailpipe standards to boost electric vehicles
Jeremy Beaman
The Biden administration is gearing up to propose new regulations next week to crack down further on emissions from new passenger cars and trucks that are expected to be the strictest national tailpipe standards ever put on the sector.
The rules, which will be announced on Wednesday in Detroit, per Bloomberg, come as the administration explores all avenues to compel more electrification in the transportation sector and facilitate more electric vehicle sales to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Video Embed
TOP DEMOCRATS BACK TOUGH VEHICLE STANDARDS
The new proposed regulations, drawn up by the Environmental Protection Agency using authorities under the Clean Air Act, will begin with model year 2027 vehicles and extend through model year 2032 vehicles.
EPA already finalized new tailpipe emissions standards for new vehicles made in model years 2023-2026, replacing and toughening standards set during the Trump administration.
EPA’s pending standards, which President Joe Biden ordered the agency to craft on top of the 2023-2026 standards in an August 2021 executive order, are expected to be more aggressive but not to include a mandate that vehicles run on electricity instead of petroleum-based fuels.
California, which has unique authority from Congress to set its own emissions standards, has set such standards to require 100% zero-emissions vehicle sales by 2035. A handful of states, including Virginia and New York, have adopted those standards.
Biden set a goal to achieve 50% of new vehicle sales being electric by 2030 in conjunction with his wider goal of reaching net-zero emissions across the economy by 2050. EV sales in 2022 accounted for around 6% of new vehicle sales.
The Inflation Reduction Act, the green energy and healthcare spending law Democrats passed last year, includes maximum $7,500 tax credits for new consumer and commercial light-duty vehicles to incentivize more purchases, while the administration is using regulatory authorities across agencies to tighten standards to reduce pollution.
Biden’s August 2021 executive order also directed the Department of Transportation to set new fuel economy standards for cars and trucks beginning with model year 2027 through at least model year 2030.
Those standards, which are also expected soon, will build on standards finalized last year requiring passenger cars and light trucks to achieve an average 49 miles per gallon economy for all new makes beginning in model year 2026.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Some interest groups have implored the administration to issue regulations aligning more closely with California’s. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Republicans and Republican-led states, meanwhile, have been litigating against the Biden administration’s vehicle regulations. A Republican-led bill in Congress would also prohibit EPA from issuing waivers to California to set regulations that would ban the sale of new motor vehicles powered by internal combustion engines.