On April 12, 2023, the EPA announced two proposed vehicle emission rules aimed to accelerate the transition to electric passenger and commercial vehicles.
The proposed standards do not require that manufacturers produce a certain number of electric vehicles, but instead set forth limits on greenhouse gas emissions that manufacturers must comply with for particular vehicle fleets. The EPA predicts such standards will result in a dramatic increase in new electric vehicle sales.
The first proposed rule focuses on light- and medium-duty vehicles. The EPA predicts that this new rule could result in 67 percent of new sales of light-duty vehicles and 44 percent of new sales of medium-duty vehicles being all electric by 2032.
The companion proposed rule focuses on new standards for "heavy-duty vocational vehicles (such as delivery trucks, refuse haulers or dump trucks, public utility trucks, transit, shuttle, school buses) and trucks typically used to haul freight." The EPA predicts that as a result, 50 percent of new buses and 25 percent of new heavy-duty trucks could be fully electric by 2032. Vehicle manufacturers will need to increase the manufacture and procurement of batteries and computer chips to meet the increase in demand, should the proposed rules take effect.
The EPA will take comments on the proposed rules in the next few months before moving to finalize the proposed rules.
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