US tightens standards for car emissions

The United States Government introduced on Wednesday (12.04.2023) stricter standards for automobile emissions, a measure aimed at guarantee that 67 percent of the cars sold in the country in 2032 are electric. This goal is more ambitious than the one presented by President Joe Biden two years ago so that half of the cars sold in the United States in 2030 would be zero emissions (electric, plug-in hybrids or hydrogen).

The White House, however, it does not set a specific quota for clean vehicles for sale. But the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, for its acronym in English) plans to progressively reduce the average amount of polluting emissions from new vehicles produced by each manufacturer, in order to mount more electric cars.

These new rules “should make it possible to avoid the emission of about 10,000 million tons of CO2 (by 2055), that is, more than double the total CO2 emissions in the United States in 2022“, the EPA stated in a statement. The government’s decision is “a key piece of the puzzle to reduce our nation’s largest source of carbon pollution and provide cleaner air and a safer climate for all,” Manish Bapna said. “If implemented correctly, the measures will also reduce oil imports and fuel costs for motorists,” the head of the NRDC environmental organization told AFP.

Manufacturers will choose which technologies they adopt to reduce emissions from the cars produced. In the past, they have reduced the weight of their vehicles, improved the efficiency of their engines and added new particulate filters.

But with many brands so far along in electric vehicle development, the EPA is counting on this trend to accelerate. According to his calculations, with the new rules, electric vehicles could represent 67 percent of light vehicle sales (city cars, sedans, SUVs, pick-ups) in 203250% of the sales of buses and garbage trucks, 35 percent of local transport trucks and 25 percent of long-distance transport trucks.

The task looks difficult for manufacturers. Although they have risen sharply in the past two years, all-electric car sales in the United States accounted for only 5.8 percent of vehicles sold in 2022, according to Cox Automotive. But the forecasts in this regard are revised periodically as technology advances, Ali Zaidi, a White House climate adviser, said during a press conference.