EPA’s announcement aligns federal rules with the new California rules, Jonas Nahm, assistant professor of energy, resources and environment at Johns Hopkins, said in an email.
It also helps ensure that EVs continue to sell after the IRA tax credits expire in the early 2030s. The individual tax credits and other incentives in the IRA are expected to increase EV sales from less than 40% to nearly 60% by 2030. That means those incentives will put EV sales on track to meet the proposed EPA guidelines. But some experts worry that there could be a return to gas-powered cars by the early 2030s, Orvis says.
Mandates like the new federal rules could be key to bolstering the future of EVs. “To meet these targets, automakers must commit to EVs at a level that makes it difficult to change course later,” says Nahm.
Much work remains to be done to reach the standards EVs need in terms of charging, battery technology, and public acceptance so we can reach our climate goals, but the new EPA regulations and other policy shifts suggest the tide is turning. . “This is the future: the consumer demand is there, the markets are enabling it, and the technologies are enabling it,” Reagan said in a press release. “We’re rolling in the same direction.”
