EPA: The United States changes car manufacturing rules to boost the sale of electric and hybrid vehicles | Climate and Environment

The EPA, the US environmental agency, this Wednesday changed the rules on pollution from utility vehicles, medium-sized vehicles and light trucks manufactured from 2027 onwards. The new regulation, which promises to revolutionize the sector, will boost the production of plug-in hybrids and electrical. The goal is that by 2032 they will end up representing the majority of car sales. Their promoters define the new standards as a “historic” plan to reduce the impact of the automobile industry on global warming.

“Three years ago [al llegar a la Casa Blanca], I set an ambitious goal: that half of all new cars and trucks sold in 2030 would be zero-emission,” President Biden said in a statement. “Together, we have made historic progress. Hundreds of new factories adapted throughout the country. Hundreds of billions in private investments and thousands of good-paying union jobs. And we will meet my goal by 2030 and move forward in the following years.” Biden is already making the fight against climate change one of the central issues of his campaign for re-election, and this Wednesday’s announcement can be interpreted as a gesture to reinforce the image of the president as the only option, compared to that of Donald Trump and his denialist agenda, for voters concerned about the future of the planet.

The sale of electric cars broke records in 2023 in the United States, but its growth rate is showing signs of fatigue. With 1.2 million units placed, they represented only 7.6% of the vehicles that left the factories. The recently announced regulation aims to ensure that 56% of new sales are of electric vehicles, and that 13% correspond to plug-in hybrid models.

It is a plan that reduces, however, the EPA’s previous aspirations, formulated last April. EPA head Michael Regan told reporters in Washington that the new proposal “offers the same pollution reduction, if not more.” Regan warned that it is not just about reducing carbon dioxide emissions, which fuel climate change; also “serious air pollution that causes heart attacks, respiratory diseases, severe asthma episodes and decreased lung function.” “These new standards,” he insisted, “are very important for public health, for jobs in the United States, for our economy and for the planet.”

Savings for drivers

According to the Joe Biden Administration, this will mean eliminating more than 7 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next 30 years and will bring savings of $100 billion for public health, which will benefit from the improvement. of air quality, and for the pockets of drivers, who will notice it when refueling or visiting the workshop. “Once the new standards are fully implemented, the average American owner will save approximately $6,000” per vehicle, the EPA said in a statement released Wednesday.

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The commitment to the electric car is one of the great vectors of Biden’s environmental policy since he took office in 2021. The issue has also become one of the multiple fronts of the ideological war between Democrats and Republicans. Former President Donald Trump, who aspires to return to the White House after the November elections, has made the defense of gasoline cars one of the central arguments of his campaign, which he frequently repeats at his rallies in places where he knows that can capitalize on the discontent of workers in traditional industries.

The last time was during a rally last Saturday in Ohio, in which he promised to impose 100% tariffs on foreign electric car manufacturers if he is elected and, while talking about the subject, he predicted “a bloodbath” if the elected one is elected. Biden. In other electoral events he has spread lies or inaccuracies about the performance of these non-polluting vehicles or the batteries they use, which are mostly manufactured in China.

A pressure group that defends the interests of the fuel and petrochemical industries in Washington has announced an investment of millions in an advertising campaign and calls and text messages to voters in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona, as well as Ohio and Montana, two Republican territories. “The forced electrification agenda [de Biden] “It is bad for American families, for the economy, and indefensible in terms of US national security,” you can read on its website.

The automobile unions, for their part, celebrated the news, considering that “the EPA proposes a more viable emissions rule that also protects workers.”

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