California senators are asking Biden to ban the sale of gas cars

by

The letter sent Monday by sens. Diane Feinstein and Alex Padilla was sent to President Joseph Biden, urging him to “follow California’s lead and set a date when all new cars and passenger cars sold are zero-emission vehicles.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order in September requiring all new passenger cars and trucks sold in the state to be zero-emission vehicles by 2035.
Vehicle manufacturers are in the process of offering a much wider selection of electric vehicles to meet more stringent environmental regulations around the world and meet growing customer demand for electric vehicles. They are also designed to save costs, as EVs have fewer moving parts and less labor to assemble than traditional combustion engine vehicles.

The industry plans to invest $ 250 billion in vehicle electrification over the next three years, according to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an industrial trade group. When asked about the senators’ calls for a fixed deadline to demand only zero-emission vehicles, the trade group said it supports collaboration with the Biden administration to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and “build and build a robust electric vehicle market. resolve ongoing disputes. ”

But it also wants new national emission regulations that are less burdensome than those of the Obama administration, which the Trump administration tried in vain to scrap.

Plans are ready

Some leading carmakers have announced plans far more ambitious than those proposed by the industrial trade group.

General Motors recently said it has the “ambition” to sell only zero-emission cars by 2035. Ford also wants to shift its car models in Europe to pure electric by 2030, although it expects to continue selling gasoline-powered trucks and vans. after that date in Europe. It has not yet set a timetable for when it expects to sell only electric vehicles in the US market.

“Proposals to encourage the production of zero-emission vehicles underscore the kind of talks we need,” said a statement from Ford.

The senators said the Biden administration should force the auto industry to commit to a hard shift towards electric vehicles.

“The automotive industry has shown that it has the ingenuity and resources to reinvent our transportation systems in a consumer-friendly way,” the senators said in their letter to Biden. “We urge your administration to take advantage of this effort and make real progress in coordination with states, such as California, that share your goals to aggressively combat climate change by eliminating harmful pollution from the transportation industry,”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the senators’ letter. The Environmental Protection Agency said it supports taking action to reduce vehicle emissions even if, like the auto industry trade group, it no longer endorses a firm requirement for electric vehicles.

New tougher emissions regulations “will play an important role in addressing climate change and promoting economic and employment opportunities,” the EPA said in a statement. EPA is working with the Department of Transportation, California and other states, the auto industry, the job market and other stakeholders to consider a range of views on how ambitious [emissions] standards. “

Stricter regulations

In addition to other measures the new government has taken so far to reduce emissions, Biden signed an executive order on January 27 pledging to buy zero-emission vehicles for the federal government, including vehicles for the U.S. Postal Service, which is engaged in the development of a next generation of vans.
California has only one auto assembly plant, the former GM-Toyota plant in Fremont, California, near San Francisco, now operated by an electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla TSLATesla is also the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, with sales of 500,000 worldwide last year.
Volkswagen could soon steal Tesla's crown

California has been a leader in enacting stricter environmental regulations for vehicle emissions than the federal government, and a dozen states have followed suit. The Trump administration took to court to challenge its power to set those tougher standards. The auto industry has argued that the most important thing was a single set of rules for the whole country. Several automakers, including Ford, Honda, Volkswagen, and BMW, reached a deal with California, saying they would meet more stringent regulations than prescribed by the EPA.

California senators said that “at an absolute minimum” the new federal regulations should follow the agreement between California and those automakers. They are also trying to re-give California the right to enact stricter emissions regulations than the EPA.

Most other traditional automakers agreed with the Trump administration’s efforts to deprive California of the right to set its own standard, though GM dropped its support for that effort shortly after the general election.

Source