E.P.A. Is Said to Propose Rules Meant to Drive Electric Car Sales Tenfold

The Biden administration is planning some of the most stringent auto pollution limits in the world — designed to ensure that all-electric cars make up as much as 67% of new passenger vehicles sold in the US by 2032. That would represent a dramatic leap from the 5.8% of vehicles that were all-electric in 2022, and would exceed President Biden's earlier goal of 50% EV sales by 2030.

The Proposed Rule

EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced the proposed limits on tailpipe emissions in Washington. The rule would not directly mandate a specific percentage of EV sales. Instead, it would cap the total fleet emissions allowed per automaker each year — setting limits so stringent that automakers would effectively need 54 to 60% of new sales to be all-electric by 2030, rising to 64 to 67% by 2032.

The proposal would be the federal government's most aggressive climate regulation and would put the US at the forefront of the global effort to reduce greenhouse gases from transportation. The European Union has already enacted emissions standards expected to phase out new gasoline vehicles by 2035, and Canada and Britain have proposed similar frameworks. The new EPA rule would bring US federal targets into closer alignment with California's 2035 ICE ban.

The Challenge for Automakers

Nearly every major car company has already invested heavily in EVs — but few have committed to EV production at the levels the Biden administration envisions. Supply chain bottlenecks, battery material constraints, and uncertainty about consumer demand all pose genuine obstacles. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents major US and foreign automakers, called it "nothing short of a complete transformation of the automotive industrial base."

Climate policy experts argue that without firm regulatory standards, market forces alone are too unpredictable to guarantee the transition. Drew Kodjak of the International Council on Clean Transportation put it plainly: without clear standards and timelines, none of the players can be certain the transition will actually happen at the pace needed.

What It Would Require

Rapidly accelerating EV adoption at this scale would demand parallel investments in charging infrastructure — millions of new charging stations, grid upgrades to handle the added load, and secured supplies of critical battery minerals. The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated $7.5 billion for approximately 500,000 highway charging stations, but analysts project millions will ultimately be needed.

The proposal will go through a public comment period and could be modified before becoming final. It is expected to face legal challenges and could become a flashpoint in the 2024 presidential race, as a future administration could weaken or reverse it. The administration has also worked to reassure auto unions — a critical political constituency — that the transition would create new green jobs even as traditional ICE manufacturing jobs decline.

Originally published by The New York Times. Author: Coral Davenport.