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EPA Issues ‘Strongest-Ever’ Auto Emissions Standards to Boost EVs
Epoch Times
3/20/2024
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued new rules on March 20 for automobiles aimed at cutting carbon emissions and boosting both hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs). The new regulations amount to the toughest-ever limits on tailpipe emissions, part of the Biden administration’s bid to accelerate the manufacture and adoption of EVs. This affects passenger vehicles, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty vehicles produced starting in 2027.
The regulations, according to the EPA, would cut 7.2 billion tons of carbon emissions through 2055 in addition to providing “nearly $100 billion of annual net benefits to society, including $13 billion of annual public health benefits due to improved air quality, and $62 billion in reduced annual fuel costs, and maintenance and repair costs for drivers.”
Green Agenda
The new rules exemplify the Biden administration’s aggressive green agenda, as climate change has been a top priority for the White House since President Joe Biden took office on Jan. 20, 2021“With transportation as the largest source of U.S. climate emissions, these strongest-ever pollution standards for cars solidify America’s leadership in building a clean transportation future and creating good-paying American jobs, all while advancing President Biden’s historic climate agenda,” he said.
“Under President Biden’s leadership, this Administration is pairing strong standards with historic investments to revitalize domestic manufacturing, strengthen domestic supply chains and create good-paying jobs.”
U.S. auto manufacturing gives drivers options—all while saving the planet, according to Ali Zaidi, White House national climate adviser.“On factory floors across the nation, our autoworkers are making cars and trucks that give American drivers a choice—a way to get from point A to point B without having to fuel up at a gas station,” he said in a statement.
“From plug-in hybrids to fuel cells to fully electric, drivers have more choices today.
“Since 2021, sales of these vehicles have quadrupled and prices continue to come down.”
Environmental and automobile-related groups applauded the new rules.
“The EPA has made significant progress on its final greenhouse gas emissions rule for light-duty vehicles,” the United Automobile Workers union said in a statement.
“The future is electric. Automakers are committed to the EV transition—investing enormous amounts of capital and building cutting-edge battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, traditional hybrids, and fuel cell vehicles that drive efficiency and convert petroleum miles to electric miles,” Alliance for Automotive Innovation President and CEO John Bozzella said in a statement.
‘Prohibitively Expensive’
However, not everyone celebrated the latest developments to deal with pollution.“At a time when millions of Americans are struggling with high costs and inflation, the Biden administration has finalized a regulation that will unequivocally eliminate most new gas cars and traditional hybrids from the U.S. market in less than a decade,” American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers President and CEO Chet Thompson and American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Mike Sommers said in a joint statement.
“As much as the President and EPA claim to have ‘eased’ their approach, nothing could be further from the truth.
“This regulation will 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.”
With an average $40,000 price tag, they’re unaffordable for most consumers.
Mr. Thompson and Mr. Sommers said they are prepared to challenge the new regulations in court.
The government’s stated goal is to achieve net zero carbon emissions to combat climate change.
While the auto industry continues to ramp up EV production to compete against manufacturers such as Tesla, market observers say that acceptance of the technology needs to be faster to keep pace.
According to the June 2023 Cox Automotive survey, many consumers are still leery of purchasing an EV despite growing interest.
The 2023 “Path to EV Adoption: Consumer and Dealer Perspectives” study revealed a “lack of EV readiness among U.S. automotive dealers regarding sales and service,” according to Cox Automotive.
“As EV inventories continue to climb, dealers must bridge this gap.”
The survey polled 1,024 consumers and 152 dealers. And while consumer interest in purchasing an EV appears to be increasing, price remains the “top roadblock.”
In an October 2023 Car Gurus report, electric vehicle inventories increased by 506 percent from 2022 because of higher purchase prices despite generous tax breaks and government incentives.
On average, electric vehicles sat in the lot for 82 days compared with 64 days for traditional gasoline vehicles, according to Car Gurus. Another concern was the upfront cost of installing in-home chargers—$2,000 in some cases—and higher insurance costs.
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Biden Administration Set To Complete Regulations Targeting Gas-Powered Vehicles
The Biden administration will likely complete regulations this week designed to punish gas-powered vehicles and pave the way for electric vehicles, whose average cost is roughly more than twice as expensive as average subcompact car.
In its proposed rules published in May 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency wrote that it wanted to target vehicles that would phase-in over model years 2027 through 2032, stating, “EPA finds it appropriate to set new standards for model years after 2026 for both criteria pollutants and GHG at this time, rather than continuing its prior approach of coordinating the standards but setting them in separate regulatory actions.
“It certainly won’t do anything to improve human health. It won’t do anything to reduce pollution,” American Energy Institute president and CEO Jason Isaac, told Fox News Digital. “We’ve proven in this country that we’re already a world leader in clean air. All it’s going to continue to do is push the costs of electric vehicles on to purchasers of internal combustion engine vehicles. This is purely being done for campaign reasons — to really appease the leftist large donor base that are the climate alarmists that are driving this movement towards really what is a forced energy transition, which is just increasing the cost of everything.”
“President Biden has been clear since 2020 that he intends to use his federal agencies, and the State of California, to eliminate sales of new gas cars,” American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers president and CEO Chet Thompson added. “While multiple administration policies push us toward this end, the EPA’s passenger vehicle standards will do most of the damage on their own — requiring approximately 70% of new car sales to be electric in less than eight years. This policy is bad for consumers, the economy and national security. It will sacrifice our hard-won U.S. energy strength for even greater dependence on China and the EV battery and mineral supply chain China controls.”
“In 2022, California finalized the Advanced Clean Cars II rule that will require, by 2035, all new light-duty vehicles sold in the state to be zero-emission vehicles, with New York, Massachusetts, and Washington state following suit, likely to be followed by Oregon and Vermont as well,” the EPA wrote. “Several other states may adopt similar provisions as members of the International Zero-Emission Vehicle Alliance.”
“For light-duty vehicles, EPA is proposing standards that would increase in stringency each year over a six-year period, from MYs 2027–2032,” the EPA stated. “The proposed standards are projected to result in an industry-wide average target for the light-duty fleet of 82 grams/mile (g/mile) of CO2 in MY 2032, representing a 56 percent reduction in projected fleet average GHG emissions target levels from the existing MY 2026 standards.”
“EPA is proposing more stringent emissions standards for criteria pollutants for both light-duty and medium-duty vehicles for MYs 2027– 2032,” the agency wrote, adding:
For light-duty vehicles, EPA is proposing non-methane organic gases (NMOG) plus nitrogen oxides (NOX) standards that would phase-down to a fleet average level of 12 mg/mi by MY 2032, representing a 60 percent reduction from the existing 30 mg/mi standards for MY 2025 established in the Tier 3 rule in 2014. For medium- duty vehicles, EPA is proposing NMOG+NOX standards that would require a fleet average level of 60 mg/ mi by MY 2032, representing a 66 percent to 76 percent reduction from the Tier 3 standards of 178 mg/mi for Class 2b vehicles and 247 mg/mi for Class 3 vehicles. EPA is proposing cold temperature (¥7 °C) NMOG+NOX standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles to ensure robust emissions control over a broad range of operating conditions. For both light-duty and all medium- duty vehicles, EPA is proposing a particulate matter (PM) standard of 0.5 mg/mi and a requirement that the standard be met across three test cycles, including a cold temperature (¥7 °C) test.