An American flag is reflected in a side view mirror of a new Jeep SUV with Plug-In Hybrid Technology during an Environmental Protection Agency event in Washington, on March 20, 2024. President Biden’s new rule cutting emissions from vehicle tailpipes has deepened a partisan battle over automotive technology.
Within minutes of this week’s announcement of the new rule, similar talking points — albeit not as violent — flooded the Republican ecosystem. In pitching his EV policies to Americans, Biden has sought to present himself as a “car guy,” talking about his upbringing as the son of a car dealer and test driving a Ford F-150 electric pickup truck to pronounce “This sucker’s quick!” He was the first president to join autoworkers on the picket line.
The EPA regulation is not a ban. Rather, it requires carmakers to meet tough new average emissions limits across their entire product line, starting in model year 2027 and ramping up through 2032. Automakers could comply with the emissions caps by selling a mix of gasoline-burning cars, hybrids, EVs or other types of vehicles, such as cars powered by hydrogen.
It would also provide nearly $100 billion in annual net benefits to society, according to the agency, including $13 billion annually in public health benefits like avoided hospitalizations and fewer premature deaths thanks to improved air quality. The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, a lobbying organization, has begun what it says is a “seven figure” campaign of advertising, phone calls and text messages against what it calls “Biden’s EPA car ban” in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona, as well as in Ohio, Montana and the Washington, D.C., market.
In the Phoenix metro area, electric vehicles represented 11.6% of new car registrations last year. “It’s trying to get votes,” said Wilkes, who described himself as an independent voter. “It won’t get mine. They want to enforce a change I don’t think a typical American is ready for.” Michael McKenna, a Republican strategist and energy lobbyist who worked in the Trump White House, said Republican polling has found attacking electric vehicle mandates to be an “amazing” issue for the party. He called Biden’s regulation a “shadow ban” on gas-powered vehicles. “If you make something unavailable it’s the same as banning it,” he said.