Biden pitches strict emissions rules to make most cars electric by 2032
The White House proposed sweeping new automobile pollution standards Wednesday that would require more than two-thirds of new vehicles to be electric within the next decade — about 10 times the number currently sold in the US at prices that hit inflation-weary Americans even harder in the pocketbook.
The proposed restrictions for new cars and trucks, would apply to the 2027 to 2032 model years and be the strictest ever imposed on US automakers while accelerating the shifಌt from gas-powered vehicles to battery-powered automobiles.
The White House said the changes would cut carbon dioxide emissions by 10 billion tons, reduce the nation’s reliance on imported oil and save Americans about $12,000 over the life of a vehicle.
But while a number 🍸of US car makers are now rolling out electric vehi🍸cles, they arrive at the dealer with a high degree of sticker shock.
The average price of an electric vehicle in Maꦦrch 2023 was $58,940 compared to $48,008 for a gas-poweཧred car,
And while the price of gas-powered cars fell 1.1% from February to March, the price for EVs rose 0.5% over that same two-month period, the company 🙈said in a release T𒊎uesday.
Meanwhile, Americans are still reluctant to get behind the wheel of a battery-powered car, citing the high purchase price and too few charg💖ing stations,released Tuesday.
According to the survey, 60% say they’re putting off buying an EV because the price is too high, while 50% believe there aren’t enough charging stations.
Another 40% just prefer a gas-powered car.
“I’m an internal combustion engine kind o♏f guy,” Robert Piascik, 65, a musician who lives in Westerville, Ohio, told the AP.
“I can’t see myself spending a premium to buy something that I don’t like as much as the lower-priced option,” he said.
About half of the respondents in the AP/NORC/EPIC poll — 47% — say their next car likely won’t be an electric one, while 22% say it’s somewhat likely.
Only 19% say it’s “very” or “extremely” likely that they would buy an electric vehicle the next time they buy a car.
The EPA proposals call for 60% of new passenger vehicles to be electric by 2030, with tha𝔍t number hitting 67% by 2032.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said the EPA’s proposals will be bad for everyday Americans.
“Joe Biden wants to make two out of every three new cars electric by 2032,”
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“These rules may please his climate donors, but they’ll hurt the vast majority of Americans who can’t use, can’t afford, or don’t want electric,” Cotton said.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the ranking Republican on the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, called the proposed new regulations “misguided.”
“Today, the Biden administration made clear it wants to decide for Americans what kinds of cars and trucks we are allowed to buy, lease, and drive,” the, adding that the average cost of an EV is more than the household income of 46% of American families.
”These misguided emissions standards were made without considering the supply chain challenges American automakers are still facing, the lack of sufficiently operational electric vehicle charging infrastructure, or the fact that it takes nearly a decade to permit a mine to extract the minerals needed to make electric vehicles, forcing businesses to look to China for these raw materials,” she said.
But White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi said under🌌 the Biden administration EV sales have tripled and the models available have doubled.
“The automakers have … technology and the infrastructure and supply chain to be able to achieve this with the lead time they’ve got,″ Zaidi said.
The $1 trillion infrastructure bill signed♊ by President Biden in November 2021 includes a federal strategy to build 500,000 charging stations across the country and also includes a $7,500 tax credit to lower the cost of EVs.
With Post wires
