Acronym Soup: EPA and EVs in DC
It’s time for California Ag Today. On the Ag Information Network, I am Haylie Shipp.EPA chief Michael Regan got an earful during a recent Senate hearing on electric vehicles and the administration’s push to further their use by means of regulation.
Wyoming GOP Senator Cynthia Lummis echoed a refrain by many in rural America…
“Their livelihoods depend on affordable, reliable vehicles. And that means a gas- or diesel-powered car, truck, or natural gas.”
Instead, the EPA proposed among the toughest new auto pollution rules that could force EVs to make up two-thirds of new vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2032. Lummis complained to Regan at a Senate Environment committee hearing about EVs’ reliability and cost…
“The average EV is over 10 thousand dollars more expensive than the average gas-powered car, and they don’t work at altitude. They don’t work when it’s that cold. And they don’t work when you can’t get them charged because there are no charging stations.”
So that’s commentary and numbers on a national scale. From Reuters, California's rules mandate 35% of the new cars sold be plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV), EVs or hydrogen fuel cell by 2026. That proportion will rise to 68% by 2030 and 100% by 2035.