WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is expected to unveil new auto emissions standards this week that relax proposed tailpipe limits for three years but eventually reach the same stringent standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The changes come as sales of electric vehicles with the zero tailpipe emissions required to meet the standards begin to slow. The auto industry cited poor sales growth by objecting to the EPA’s preferential standards, announced last April as part of the most ambitious plan yet to reduce planet-warming emissions from passenger vehicles.
Under its preferred alternative, the EPA has suggested that the industry could meet the limits if 67% of new vehicle sales were electric by 2032.
But during a public comment period on the 2027 to 2032 standards, the auto industry said the criteria were unworkable because EV sales were slowing as consumers worried about cost, range and a lack of public charging stations.
The Biden EPA will choose an alternative that slows implementation from 2027 to 2029 but accelerates it to reach the EPA’s preferred level from 2030 to 2032, three people with knowledge of the standards say. The alternative will have other unspecified modifications that will help the automotive industry. It is up to standard, one of the people said.
The people, two from the auto industry and one from the government, asked not to be identified because the new standards have not been made public by the EPA.
The changes appear aimed at addressing strong industry opposition to the rapid expansion of electric vehicles and the public’s reluctance to fully embrace the new technology. There is also a legitimate threat of legal challenges before conservative courts.
The Supreme Court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, has increasingly reined in the powers of federal agencies, including the EPA, in recent years. Justices restrict EPA’s authority to fight air and water pollution; this includes a landmark 2022 decision limiting the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming.
Biden has made tackling climate change a hallmark of his presidency and is trying to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from gasoline-powered vehicles, which constitute the single largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
At the same time, Biden needs cooperation from the auto industry and political support from autoworkers, a key political voting bloc. The United Auto Workers union, which backs Biden, said it supports a shift to electric vehicles but wants to make sure jobs are protected and the industry pays the highest wages to workers making electric vehicles and batteries.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that White House officials “do not have any concerns” about the EPA rule to be announced Wednesday.
“We know these things take time,” Biden told Air Force One reporters en route to Nevada. “But we will still stick to our (climate) targets.”
Overall, environmental groups are optimistic about the new EPA plan.
Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, told reporters last week that he expects the rule to significantly reduce carbon emissions from cars and light-duty trucks, the source of one-fifth of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.
“Based on what we have heard, there is no reason to doubt that climate rules for cars and light-duty trucks will reduce carbon pollution from new cars, SUVs and pickup trucks by more than 90% over the next few decades.” said Bapna. “This is huge.”
The EPA rule will “prevent more than 7 billion tons of climate-damaging carbon emissions between 2027 and 2055.” This is more than the country produces in a year. This is absolutely necessary, real and tangible progress,” Bapna said.
“As the United States races to achieve cleaner, healthier air for everyone, the EPA’s clean car standards will put the pedal to the metal,” said Amanda Leland, executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund, another environmental group.
“Strong clean car standards help deliver cleaner air and a safer climate, save thousands of dollars in costs for our families, and provide hundreds of thousands of new jobs in U.S. manufacturing,” Leland said.
Luke Tonachel, an auto expert with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the new clean car standards would encourage the auto industry to “continue to invest as it has started to do over the long term” in EVs and zero emissions. Vehicles. “The rule will also send a signal to infrastructure providers and utilities to continue building out charging infrastructure,” he said.
But Dan Becker of the Center for Biological Diversity said he feared the loopholes would cause the industry to continue selling gas burners. He also fears that the industry will continue to do very little in the first three years of the standards, which could be rolled back if Donald Trump is elected president.
“As a result, the administration is bowing to pressure from major oil companies, major automakers and dealers to halt progress on electric vehicles and allow more pollution from residual cars,” Becker said.
At a rally in the Detroit area in September, Trump insisted that Biden’s embrace of electric vehicles, a key component of his clean energy agenda, would ultimately lead to job losses.
Republicans and some in the industry have said the rule would require 67% of new vehicle sales to be electric by 2032 and force people to buy cars, trucks and SUVs they aren’t yet ready to accept.
But EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the new rule is a performance standard that leaves it up to industry to come up with solutions.
U.S. electric vehicle sales rose 47% last year to a record 1.19 million, with EV market share rising to 7.6% from 5.8% in 2022. However, growth in EV sales slowed towards the end of the year. It increased by 34% in December.
The Alliance for Auto Innovation, a major industry trade group, said in a news release that the up to 67% increase originally proposed by the EPA was too fast for the industry to achieve. The EPA’s pace of EV adoption is faster than President Joe Biden’s goal of electric vehicles accounting for half of new vehicle sales in the U.S. by 2030, the group said.
“Where we are (or are not) in 2032 is currently unclear,” the group said. “But slowing the pace of adoption of electric vehicles in 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030 would be the right call because it prioritizes more reasonable and achievable electrification targets in the next few (very critical) years.”
The EPA’s preferred standards would increase carbon dioxide emissions from 186 grams per mile in 2026 to 82 grams per mile in 2032, a 56% decrease. Limits will reach 111 grams per mile by 2029.
But under the alternative that environmental groups expect the EPA to adopt, the standards would be relaxed in the first three years, reaching 132 grams in 2029, but again reaching 82 grams in 2032.
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AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher reported from Detroit. AP reporter Seung Min Kim from Air Force One contributed to this story.
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This story has been updated to correct the grams of carbon dioxide reduction per mile under the EPA’s proposed standards and an alternative the agency is expected to announce this week. He also corrected that the NRDC chairman said the EPA rule would prevent 7 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions over 28 years, not 70 billion tons.