US President Joe Biden has vowed to dramatically increase the market share of electric vehicles in the US to account for 50% of all car sales by the end of the decade.
Photo: by Jack S
This new policy will be enshrined into law via executive order as part of his "Build Back Better" schemes and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, under the assumption this new law will help increase the number of well-paying domestic jobs within the US automotive sector while strengthening supply chains.
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Electric vehicles currently account for around 2% of all new car sales in the US, according to the Pew Research Center. The US has been slow to adopt greener policies in recent years, likely due to former President Trump bolstering investment in fossil fuels while in office.
7% of adults surveyed admitted to owning an electric or hybrid vehicle.
Getting up to the desired market share will be a challenge and require something of an overhaul of the US automotive sector, although the pledge is still far behind other countries, such as the UK and Portugal, who have vowed to ban the sales of all fully diesel or petrol cars within a similar time frame.
The agenda will also cover hybrid vehicles, which are not as environmentally friendly as battery-electric or hydrogen fuel-cell cars but are far better than vehicles that operate using traditional combustion engines.
In a statement, the White House says it wants to "position America to drive the electric vehicle future forward, outcompete China, and tackle the climate crisis."
Both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) are set to reverse the previous administration's rollbacks on fuel efficiency, which Washington claims will save around 200 billion gallons of gasoline annually - roughly equivalent to $900 per person over the lifespan of a vehicle.
The US's three largest automakers, Stellantis, Ford and General Motors, alongside the automotive labour union United Auto Workers (UAW), have expressed support for the scheme and its goals.
Ford logo. Credit: Ivan Radic / Flickr (Licence: CC BY 2.0)
Ford has already announced its plans to become completely net-zero by 2050. Credit: Ivan Radic / Flickr (Licence: CC BY 2.0)
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Many of these have also pledged to some form of climate targets and an increase in electric vehicle targets.
The UAW's President Ray Curry said: “Every day UAW members, our friends, neighbours and communities confront firsthand the sad reality that the infrastructure in the United States desperately needs to be modernized. UAW members make products that are impacted by the current state of our roads, bridges, internet capacity and electrical grid reliability.
"With today’s passage of a bipartisan infrastructure bill, the Biden Administration and US Senate came together to fix the core needs every American relies on to live, work and succeed in the future."
As part of the Build Back Better scheme, Washington will also be looking to invest in electric vehicle charging stations to meet the increasing demand for electric vehicles as well as delivering "point-of-sale consumer incentives to spur US manufacturing and union jobs."
This also includes having every aspect of the automotive manufacturing supply chain occur domestically, including Bidens plans to increase US chip production in the wake of the semiconductor shortage.
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$3 billion has already been invested into the initiative through the American Rescue Plan funds.
Biden hopes the 2030 target will provide enough of a time frame for US manufacturers to adapt without stranding assets or hurting their bottom lines too much.
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