The Biden administration is pushing for large-scale expansion of electric vehicles, including in the nation's fleet of iconic yellow school buses. Photo: JOE RAEDLE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/Getty Images via AFPThe rules set ambitious emission reductions for 2032 but are moderated somewhat compared with preliminary standards unveiled last April. Following carmaker criticism, the final rules give manufacturers greater flexibility and ease the benchmarks in the first three years.
Alluding to his target set three years ago that 50 percent of new vehicles in 2030 would be EVs, Biden predicted we'll meet my goal for 2030 and race forward in the years ahead." Carmakers, which are midway through sweeping, multi-billion-dollar investments to build more EV capacity, criticized the initial standards as overly-stringent. They cited the limited state of charging capacity in the United States that has dampened consumer demand, as well as difficulties in supply of metals and other raw materials for EV batteries.
Moderating the targets in these first three years"was the right call," said John Bozzella, president of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a Washington lobby representing carmakers.