In the continuing run-up to the electric future:
President Biden on Thursday will roll out a two-step strategy that uses tailpipe regulations to try to rapidly shift Americans from gasoline-powered cars and trucks toward electric vehicles — a central part of his plan to cut pollution that is heating the planet.
Mr. Biden plans to first restore and slightly strengthen auto mileage standards to the levels that existed under President Barack Obama but were weakened during the Trump administration. Next, his administration will draft a set of even more stringent auto pollution rules for both passenger vehicles and heavy-duty trucks that are designed to ramp up sales of electric vehicles.
“When I say electric vehicles are the future, I’m not joking,” Mr. Biden wrote in a tweet on Wednesday evening. “Tune in for big news tomorrow.”
He will also sign an executive order that sets a target that half of all vehicles sold in the United States be powered by batteries, fuel cells or be hybrid electric by 2030.
In a signal of industry support, the president will be flanked by the chief executives of the nation’s three largest automakers as well as the head of the United Auto Workers. The automakers will pledge that 40 to 50 percent of their new car sales will be electric vehicles by 2030, up from just 2 percent this year — on the condition that Congress passes a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that calls for $7.5 billion for a national network of electric vehicle charging stations.
That goal faces several challenges.
Experts say it will not be possible for electric vehicles to go from niche to mainstream without making electric charging stations as ubiquitous as the corner gas station is today. And while labor leaders will attend the White House event, they remain concerned about a wholesale shift to electric vehicles, which require fewer workers to assemble.
But without a radical change to the type of vehicles Americans drive, it will be impossible for Mr. Biden to meet his ambitious pledge to cut planet-warming emissions by 50 percent from 2005 levels by the end of this decade. Gasoline-powered cars and trucks are the largest single source of greenhouse gases produced in the United States, accounting for 28 percent of the nation’s total carbon emissions.
President Biden on Thursday will roll out a two-step strategy that uses tailpipe regulations to try to rapidly shift Americans from gasoline-powered cars and trucks toward electric vehicles — a central part of his plan to cut pollution that is heating the planet.
Mr. Biden plans to first restore and slightly strengthen auto mileage standards to the levels that existed under President Barack Obama but were weakened during the Trump administration. Next, his administration will draft a set of even more stringent auto pollution rules for both passenger vehicles and heavy-duty trucks that are designed to ramp up sales of electric vehicles.
“When I say electric vehicles are the future, I’m not joking,” Mr. Biden wrote in a tweet on Wednesday evening. “Tune in for big news tomorrow.”
He will also sign an executive order that sets a target that half of all vehicles sold in the United States be powered by batteries, fuel cells or be hybrid electric by 2030.
In a signal of industry support, the president will be flanked by the chief executives of the nation’s three largest automakers as well as the head of the United Auto Workers. The automakers will pledge that 40 to 50 percent of their new car sales will be electric vehicles by 2030, up from just 2 percent this year — on the condition that Congress passes a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that calls for $7.5 billion for a national network of electric vehicle charging stations.
That goal faces several challenges.
Experts say it will not be possible for electric vehicles to go from niche to mainstream without making electric charging stations as ubiquitous as the corner gas station is today. And while labor leaders will attend the White House event, they remain concerned about a wholesale shift to electric vehicles, which require fewer workers to assemble.
But without a radical change to the type of vehicles Americans drive, it will be impossible for Mr. Biden to meet his ambitious pledge to cut planet-warming emissions by 50 percent from 2005 levels by the end of this decade. Gasoline-powered cars and trucks are the largest single source of greenhouse gases produced in the United States, accounting for 28 percent of the nation’s total carbon emissions.