The Biden administration announced new automobile standards aimed at slashing greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2032 while also allowing automakers to meet their targets at a slower pace than originally proposed. The new standards were not as strict as the proposal laid out by the Environmental Protection Agency last year, in which automakers would have been required to reduce emissions by over two-thirds by 2032.
Car companies and the autoworkers union opposed the plan, citing recent slower sales growth of electric vehicles and the popularity of some hybrid vehicles as proof that customers were still not ready to make the full switch to fully electric vehicles. The EPA suggested that under the stricter rules, the auto industry could meet the requirements if 67 percent of new vehicles sold were EVs by 2032. Instead, the Biden administration’s standards would slow the implementation from 2027 through 2029 but then ramp up to meet the levels preferred by the EPA from 2030 to 2032. “Today, we’re setting new pollution standards for cars and trucks,” President Biden said in a statement. “US workers will lead the world on autos making clean cars and trucks, each stamped ‘Made in America.’ You have my word.” The emissions rules set performance standards based on grams of greenhouse gases per mile, but they don’t require automakers to sell EV