The Biden administration is reportedly considering slowing down one of its unpopular climate pet projects ahead of the election.
A Saturday New York Times report stated that the White House is considering a more gradual adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) than initially planned.
Sources indicate that the administration is poised to relax, at least initially, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) previously proposed vehicle emissions mandates, which would have forced carmakers to accelerate the transition of their fleets to fully electric.
Last year, the EPA suggested stringent emissions standards that would have strong-armed car manufacturers into producing mostly zero-emissions vehicles by 2030.
The proposed regulations faced widespread criticism from auto dealers in January.
The regulatory shift is considered a positive development for both vehicle manufacturers and labor unions.
It’s expected to provide additional time for the auto industry to ramp up EV production capabilities and actually build all the necessary charging station infrastructure without the looming pressure of restrictive regulations on gas-powered vehicles.
.@JuliaManch on the Biden administration reportedly potentially hitting the breaks on its EV push pic.twitter.com/ELY9qCeRY2
— Neil Cavuto (@TeamCavuto) February 19, 2024
While the sector has experienced significant growth, the pace at which EVs have been adopted into the mainstream market has lagged behind early forecasts.
Last year consumers demonstrated a preference towards hybrid vehicles over fully electric counterparts.
According to The Associated Press EV purchases represented a dismal seven percent of total car sales last year.
It’s unclear if the cooling interest in going fully electric has shifted the Biden administration’s goal posts, which projected EVs making up two-thirds of vehicle sales by 2032.
The regulatory modifications could also alleviate political tensions stemming from the United Auto Workers union, which, despite endorsing President Biden last month, had previously cautioned the administration over making a rapid transition to electric vehicles.
Despite the NYT report, auto industry insiders don’t believe that loosening early targets will do anything to stop the “de facto electric vehicle mandate” that the administration is gearing up to finalize.
“The President has been clear since 2020 that he intends to use his agencies to eliminate sales of new gas cars,” the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers stated after the report was published.
“Tinkering with the near-term speed of implementation doesn’t change the end game, which is banning new gas-powered cars.”
The organization, which has lobbied against the EPA’s proposal, noted that consumers would “end up” facing the same dilemma – “vastly restricted access” to the types of new cars they could purchase.
“Lowering the pace of the forced transition would not help consumers or protect our country’s energy security,” the added.
Have whole Admin then drive EVs OK Govt wide alone
Unless we purge them from our government, Biden, and his left wing democrats, are going to destroy everything about our country until they can remake it into their form of a socialist government, with them it total control of course. They keep pushing this country closer and closer towards that second war for independence that has been talked about a lot for these last several years. When it happens it will pretty much destroy this once great nation.
There is a practical limit to the type and number of vehicles that can tolerate the restrictions of battery power: range, cold weather, range, charging time in residential chargers, range…. Did I mention “range”? This is a huge country. The grocery store may be 20 or 30 miles away or more in some places. In Florida, driving from Key West to Alabama will require a full recharge of the best EV on the market and you will still be in Florida. At a practical limit of 2 quarts of gas equivalent PER HOUR on a residential charger, large vans/SUV and trucks with any load at all are useless. In a city, smaller than LA, an EV can be nice. Hybrids solve most of these issues and will emerge as a solution although largely overlooked right now. This is what happens when you let politicians with no founding in engineering or physics or science of any kind make decisions.