The Biden administration’s fascination with electric cars is no secret, as billions in subsidies were spent on them in the so-called inflation-reducing law, and now bribes are being funneled to automakers to shift their production.
The president’s so-called “transition” relies not only on massive subsidies, but on stringent mandates that will make gasoline-powered vehicles harder to find and unaffordable much sooner than most Americans expect.
The Biden administration enforces its mandates through two separate rules, one from the EPA and one from the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA (pronounced nitza). The EPA rule is theoretically about carbon dioxide and other emissions, but because there is no control technology, it is actually a fuel economy standard. It stands on shaky legal ground because under the law, NHTSA has exclusive jurisdiction over fuel economy standards.
The NHTSA has proposed its own rule that is functionally equivalent to the EPA’s rule, with the Biden administration hoping one or the other will survive in court.
Biden’s goal is clearly stated on the Green New Deal page on JoeBiden.com, which commits to “developing stringent new fuel economy standards aimed at ensuring that 100% of new sales of light- and medium-duty vehicles are electrified” and has been formalized. In Biden’s Executive Order 14037, which sets “a goal that 50 percent of all new passenger cars and light trucks sold in 2030 be zero-emission vehicles, including battery electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, or Fuel cell electric vehicles.
This policy is against the law. Specifically, 49 USC § 32902(h)(1), which states that NHTSA “may not consider the fuel economy of designated vehicles,” which are defined as “an alternative-fuel vehicle operating only.” This is exactly what Biden’s rules do.
Biden’s proposed miles per gallon standard is twice the fuel economy of the most efficient gasoline-powered car, the Toyota Prius. The only way to comply with Biden’s fleet-level standards is to dramatically increase electric vehicle sales, and already the EPA’s version of the rule explicitly assumes that 30 percent of vehicle sales will be electric vehicles in 2027, rising to 67 percent by 2032.
The 2027 model year is just around the corner, and 30 percent is more than three times the current EV market share. This means that gasoline-powered cars will become more difficult to find and sharply more expensive, and soon.
It’s even worse for sedans. The EPA admits to Biden that its rules imply that 78 percent of sedans sold must be electric vehicles in the 2032 model year. If you’re looking for one of the 22 percent of sedans allowed to run on gasoline, well: Good luck. If you can find one, it is likely that the order will bid significantly higher.
And if you decide to join the Biden transition and buy an electric car, prepare to be shocked about your electric bill. Electricity prices have already risen 30 percent since Biden took office, and other EPA regulations are severely restricting new electricity generation capacity at the same time as forcing vehicles onto the electric grid.
According to Heritage Foundation data scientist Kevin Dayaratna, using mainstream climate models, if the United States magically reduced our use of fossil fuels to zero, the greenhouse effect would be a 0.2 degree dilution of temperature rise in the year 2100. It’s all pain and sadness. . No profit.
Americans deserve the right to buy vehicles that fit their needs and preferences, which overwhelmingly favor internal combustion vehicles even with massive federal and state subsidies for electric vehicles. But lawsuits from Texas and other states against the Biden administration have been moving slowly, with oral arguments finally taking place in the D.C. arena this month. That decision will likely be appealed for a comprehensive review before it finally reaches the Supreme Court in 2025. By then, dozens of factories that make internal combustion vehicles may have closed or been retooled.
Therefore, the survival of internal combustion vehicles may depend on the results of the upcoming national elections.
Phil Kerpen is president of American Commitment and author of Rejecting Democracy. Kerpen can be reached at phil@americancommitment.org.
