Final EPA National Pollution Standards Show Promise for an Expanded EV Market

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

Have you noticed an increase in electric and hybrid vehicles on the roads lately?

Are you ready for electric vehicles, aka “EVs”?

Well, ready or not, they’re here.

Last year, EV sales totaled 7.6% of all new vehicles sold. This is an increase from 5.8% the year before.

Thanks to provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that invest $385 billion in energy and climate change incentives including tax credits for electric vehicle purchases, and the auto industry’s embracing of it, EVs are going to become more ubiquitous over the next several years.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just helped accelerate EV manufacturing when it announced last week new, and final, automobile emissions standards some officials are calling “the most ambitious plan ever to cut planet-warming emissions from passenger vehicles”.

In a press release, the agency explained:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced final national pollution standards for passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty vehicles for model years 2027 through 2032 and beyond. These standards will avoid more than 7 billion tons of carbon emissions and provide nearly $100 billion of annual…