Benzinga - The Joe Biden administration on Wednesday built on its existing vision for clean- transportation with new proposed federal vehicle emissions standards aimed at making EVs account for over two-thirds of all light-duty vehicle sales by 2032.
The New Proposed Standards: The Environmental Protection Agency announced two sets of standards: the first pertaining to light-duty and medium-duty vehicles and the second pertaining to heavy-duty vehicles.
The standards are in terms of emissions for vehicles starting from the 2027 model year and are expected to increase the sale of EVs. The EPA sees EVs accounting for 67% of new light-duty vehicle sales and 46% of medium-duty vehicle sales by 2032. However, this is subject to the methods auto manufacturers apply to meet the emission standards, EPA said.
Expected results: With the new standards, which EPA Administrator Michael Regan called "the strongest-ever federal pollution standards for both cars and trucks″, the administration expects to cut down CO2 emission by nearly 10 billion tons through 2055 and reduce oil imports by 20 billion barrels.
It also predicts savings of $12,000 for an average consumer over the lifetime of a light-duty vehicle as opposed to a vehicle not subject to the standards.
“Together, today’s actions will accelerate our ongoing transition to a clean vehicle future, tackle the climate crisis head-on and improve air quality for communities all across the country,” Regan said at a press conference.
While the maximum projected net benefits of the light and medium-duty proposal range are $1.6 trillion, that of the heavy-duty proposal range is $320 billion, the EPA said in a statement. That totals nearly $2 trillion in net benefits.
Feasibility Of Vision: On the feasibility of the vision, Regan said “I believe we can. I believe that because we are following market trends.”
“This is the future. The consumer demand is there, the markets are enabling it, the technology is enabling it and I have to say, this isn’t something we just started yesterday,” Regan added.
For now, EVs account for less than 10% of auto sales in the U.S. In 2022, EVs accounted for merely 5.8% of new vehicle sales.
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