Causes.com
| 3.1.23
EPA Proposes New Rules to Curb Vehicle Emissions
Do you think the EPA's proposal is too ambitious?
What’s the story?
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a new set of regulations to impose penalties on companies that do not move quickly enough toward electric vehicles.
- Many are saying this is one of the EPA’s most ambitious proposals for reducing vehicle emissions, and the agency hopes it will transform the entire auto industry.
What to know about the proposal
- The suggested regulations target emissions from vehicle tailpipes and air pollution that directly damages human health and fuels climate change. The proposal sets an emission standard based on the vehicle’s type and size.
- The standards require vehicles to emit just 82 grams of CO2 per mile traveled — a 56% decrease in the industry-wide target for 2026 set in 2021.
- The agency estimates that manufacturers will have to spend an additional $633-$1,200 per vehicle to meet these requirements. However, car shoppers are expected to save money since electric vehicles are cheaper to operate.
- EPA officials also roughly calculate that up to 67% of new vehicles sold in 2023 may have to be electric for carmakers to comply with the new strict standards.
What the EPA is saying
- EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the proposed standards would eliminate 7.3 billion tons of CO2 from being emitted, the equivalent of four years worth of air pollution from the entire U.S. transportation industry.
- Regan said the EPA would work alongside the labor sector and environmentalist organizations:
“We’re going to envision and innovate and achieve this future together. It is well within our grasp. Make no mistake about it.”
- While the auto industry is already moving toward electric vehicles, companies have varying timelines for going completely electric, many of which do not comply with the EPA’s goals. Margo Oge, former EPA official and chair of the board of the International Council on Clean Transportation, said:
“The administration is going to make history — if indeed, at the end of the day, they finalize these ambitious standards.”
What’s next?
- In response, the auto industry emphasizes how charging infrastructure must greatly increase to keep up their sales. Many feel uncertain that the globe has enough resources to embrace and accelerate that shift.
- The proposed regulations will be open for comment, and it is expected that car makers will fight for more realistic plans. In anticipation of pushback, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the trade group for major automakers, defended the EPA’s authority to set the standards. In a legal filing, the group said:
“However this litigation concludes, widespread vehicle electrification is inevitable.”
Do you think the EPA's proposal is too ambitious?
-Jamie Epstein
(Photo credit: iStock/milehightraveler)
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Currently the US is lagging the EU and China in EV sales as a percentage of all sales. Also the EU is ahead in charging innovation with dynamic EV charging roads in Germany, Italy and Sweden; and solar generation along train tracks.
https://www.axios.com/2022/02/02/a-roadway-will-charge-your-ev-while-youre-driving
https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/electric-vehicles-are-forecast-to-be-half-of-global-car-sales-by-2035.html
Just don't pass those penalties on to the normal folks. My vehicles are gas powered, but paid for. I generally run my cars until I have 200k or better. Even then I generally purchase a certified used vehicle. At my age I doubt I will ever own an EV.
We need to start taking care of the planet before there is no planet to live on.
The Administration’s coercive EV transition is being done in the name of reducing CO2 emissions, but it will have almost no effect on the climate. Climate has become the political cudgel to remake entire industries and coerce Americans to do what progressives want. They don’t believe Americans are enlightened enough to make their own choices.
Even with the IRA subsidies, the Energy Information Administration last month forecast that EVs will make up only 15% of sales in 2030 and 19% by 2050. While EVs are becoming more popular in the luxury class, they “remain less competitive against conventional gasoline-powered cars and light trucks serving the mass market,” the report noted.
Reasons include higher prices and insurance costs, a battery range that typically tops off at 250 miles and long charging time. Even rapid chargers take 20 to 30 minutes, which most people don’t want to spend while driving children to soccer or baseball games.
Its a start...but we are going to have to change America. We can't keep ignoring the climate crisis. We need rapid changes to our lifestyle, infulstructure, and the way we consume goods.
We will see big crocodile tears from car companies about how this is too much, too fast. I don't believe that for a second. That would be admitting that they don't have engineers smart enough to figure this out. Really? Is that the technological message we want to send to the world? I see a bigger challenge in a) increasing electric energy production to meet the demands of charging electric vehicles, b) increasing roadway access and capabilities for charging during long-distance driving. In Texas, we can barely handle the electricity demands during peak cold/heat challenges to power the things we already have. Add millions of EVs and we'd really be in trouble during those periods, putting more people at even more serious risks than we already face.
Right idea, but too soon. Faster charging and more charging stations first. If you build it, they will come, but build it first.
& for all of those who can't afford electric cars? Pushing this forward so fast, is insane. We don't even have the resources for the batteries. It's unrealistic.
Need for fossil fuels will never end, plus the environmental impact of EV batteries is as bad or worse than fossil fuels.
It's clear that "American innovation" needs a kick in the pants sometimes, and this is one of those times. Electric vehicles have been in production for nearly 20 years and the automakers know how to build these vehicles.
The government is helping to fund research into improving batteries and charging, which will help to provide more reliable ways for these vehicles to stay on the road.
There is time to ramp up production and build infrastructure, and our planet can't wait.
Our environment affects our children and our childrens children
I think this plan will hurt the poor, middle-class workers, people who live in urban areas, farmers, and businesses. I think it needs to be realistic.
Need electric infastruture first,while the car idustry makes less expensive electric cars, as well as lessen the emissions from all their gas cars and trucks..
we are already 30 years behind where we could be so now we need to do as much as possible as quickly as possible to get as somewhat closer to where we need to be.
i want the Earth to be liveable for my decendents. For whatever reason many humans want to live the status quo without considertion of the consequences. I purchased an electric car and while discussing it with my finance adviser he said he would never own an electric vehicle. He had no reasons that made sense.
They seem to be putting the cart before the horse. Our electrical grid is old and frequently fails to meet current needs. We need to fix that before we enforce higher usage.
No, it probably needs to be more aggressive. Good Gosh Florida just have +20 inches of rain in 7 hours. Wake up.
At this late date nothing is too ambitious.
Forcing the country to electric vehicles before the infrastructure to support the charging systems for them is very poor thinking. What about people that live in apartments with no access to run a cord to their car? What about the companies that are installing charging stations that are charging as much for electricity as for gas? What about the cost of these vehicles when we trade in a worthless gas guzzler?
Not at all. Be kind to our mother.
There is nowhere near enough infrastructure in place to support some of the timelines proposed to convert to electric vehicles. Our electric grid is already under severe stress and is not able to even support existing demand in many places. Fix the grid first, then roll out electric vehicles as fast as possible.
The auto industry has had 50-60 years to clean up their vehicles. But they've been ignoring it at least that long. Instead, making bigger and better gas guzzlers. NOW, they want to drag heels for a cleaner, better for the environment product. The need to get out of oil industry's pockets and listen to the scientists and the PUBLIC who want change for their own sakes as well as their kids and grandkids.
We have only a short time to mitigate the impact of climate change. This is a step to perserve the world for future generations or leave them a distopian world.
We have to stop listening to the oil industry and their suporters in government. This is bigger than money. It is about saving the future of our planet. Last time I checked, if we wreck Earth, we don't have anywhere else to go. Being aggressive about impacting carbon immesions is something we have to move forward with if we hope to leave an inhabitable world for our descendants.
It's what we NEED to do for a good future, however it's going to take a VERY long time due to all the politicians & big businesses in bed together.