Washington, D.C. — The Biden administration is announcing its automobile pollution limits on Wednesday, which reportedly include requirements that at least 54 percent of new vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2030 must be electric; and as 67 percent of cars sold by 2032.
The regulations are set to be announced by the Environmental Protection Agency and are meant to set greenhouse gas emissions limits for 2027 model year through 2032 model year passenger vehicles.
Bloomberg called the impending regulations “the toughest-ever U.S. curbs on car pollution while stopping short of an electric vehicle mandate on gas-powered models.” The limits do not dictate goals for specific numbers of EVs sold in a period but rather put limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Automakers will be limited on the emissions each company’s fleet of sold vehicles will produce.
The limits are said to be “even stricter than the goals the auto industry agreed to in 2021,” according to a CBS News report. In August 2021, the U.S. government announced a pledge to make electric vehicles half of new car sales by 2030.
President Joe Biden is also pushing for OEMs to raise gas mileage and cut tailpipe pollution between now and 2026 model-year vehicles, reports say.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade association including OEMs like Ford, General Motors and Toyota, said the impending proposal “requires a massive, 100-year change to the U.S. industrial base and the way Americans drive.”
“Regulatory mandates alone will not address the conditions that will determine the ultimate success of the EV transition.”
The proposed regulations are not expected to be finalized until next year.
In the first quarter of 2023, electric vehicles accounted for 7.2 percent of new vehicles sold; a 1.4 percent increase compared to Q1 2022.
