U.S. President Joe Biden answers questions from reporters after driving a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Xe around the White House driveway following remarks during an event on the South Lawn of the White House on August 5, 2021 in Washington, DC. Biden commented on the administration’s efforts to strengthen American leadership in clean cars and trucks.
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US President Joe Biden’s administration plans to ease limits on tailpipe emissions designed to prompt Americans to switch from gas-powered cars to electric vehicles, the New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the plan.
The administration would give automakers more time instead of requiring them to rapidly increase sales of electric vehicles over the next few years, the report said, adding that the new rule could be released by early spring.
This change would mean that EV sales wouldn’t need to increase dramatically until after 2030.
John Bozzella, president and CEO of the auto industry trade group Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI), said Sunday that the next three to four years will be critical for the development of the electric vehicle market.
“Give the market and supply chains a chance to catch up, maintain customer choice, let more public rates come online, let industrial credits and the Inflation Reduction Act do their part and affect change industrial,” said Bozzella.
Reuters previously reported that the White House could issue as early as March regulations proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency that would force drastic reductions in exhaust emissions. The administration’s proposal would call for increasing the U.S. electric vehicle market share to 67% by 2032, from less than 8% in 2023.
General Motors, FordAND Stellar – the European parent company of US-based Ram and Jeep – warned that it will not be able to make such a quick and profitable transition of its US fleets of heavy-duty trucks, according to a Reuters analysis of the automakers’ sales data and an analysis of comments to regulatory authorities.
Automakers and the AAI have urged the Biden administration to slow its proposed increase in electric vehicle sales. They said electric vehicle technology is still too expensive for many mainstream U.S. consumers and that more time is needed to develop charging infrastructure.