US Automakers plans to ask Mr. Trump to keep President Biden's EPA emissions rules, as there are signs that Mr. Trump may try to reverse it. If the laws are rolled back, it could cost Americans hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of deaths a year.
Interestingly, this is the opposite of what the big cars did the last time a reality TV show came to the White House – indicating that they may have learned their lesson this time.
First, some history.
By the middle of the 20th century, the effects of human activities on space were readily apparent. Some cities – with Los Angeles being the best – were choked with smog, and it was soon discovered that traffic pollution was the main cause of the smog.
Since Los Angeles was one of the most smog-stricken cities, California led the way in regulating clean air, creating the California Air Resources Board in 1967 (under then-Governor Ronald Reagan).
The federal government has given California special time to impose tougher laws than the rest of the country, recognizing that it has a unique smog problem in its capital city. California has maintained this provision, in a “relaxed” form, ever since. And other states may follow California's laws, but only if they copy all the laws exactly.
So, there have been two separate sets of clean air regulations in this country since then – federal regulations, and then the “CARB states” following California's regulations.
In 2012 that finally changed, when President Obama's EPA negotiated with California to finally agree to these standards and implement fuel efficiency nationwide. This would be of great help to the industry and consumers, saving money and providing regulatory certainty to the automotive industry.
However, in 2016, the person who received the most votes in the presidential election was headed for the White House. And automakers responded by lobbying quickly to adopt these standards, even before the opening.
Now, you might think that asking a very ignorant person, who ended up working at the EPA by scientific opponents who were bought and sold (huh, that couldn't happen again?), to change the rules that were already in place years ago. negotiation and persuasion was not a good idea. And you would be right.
Not long after the automakers had the dumb idea to ask an idiot to fix something that ain't broke, that idiot went and broke things again, breaking an agreement between California and the federal government and ensuring little regulatory certainty for automakers.
After realizing their mistake (which they could have avoided, you know, by thinking about it beforehand), the automakers agreed and asked the government not to use the rollbacks the manufacturers requested. Some companies even have their own agreement with California.
But it was too late, and now we're back in the era of different regulatory rules – something John Bozzella, head of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (formerly known as Global Automakers), complains about these days, even though he once called for it. in the first place.
The US EPA and California are not yet fully harmonized, but both have issued recent new standards with similar objectives. If a manufacturer builds to one set of rules, they probably won't be too far from meeting the other.
So in the end, we got better emissions regulations and California continued to move forward with clean air regulations, thus demonstrating the failure of Mr. he seems to wish.
The latest EPA standards, finalized in March (after being softened at the request of the auto industry), do not mandate any specific powertrain, but instead require reduced emissions – and EVs are an easy way to achieve lower emissions.
Notably, Tesla asked to do this last set of standards strongerthey beg again against ruined Obama/CA standards in 2016 – being one of the very few automakers that was on the right side of that conversation.
Despite President Biden's EPA regulations not mandating any specific powertrain, Mr. Trump, in his typical ignorance, said he would end the existing EV mandate. And now that he has won more votes than his opponent for the first time (after three attempts, and despite a coup in 2021 with a clear legal remedy), it looks like the next EPA may be directed to end these emissions reductions. and fuel/healthcare cost savings for Americans.
But this time, it sounds like automakers might do the right thing for once, and ask the government not to do any backtracking, and instead let them go ahead with the plans without the distraction of a lawbreaker who seems determined to push the US EV production bomb back to China.
Detroit's biggest automakers — GM, Ford and Stellantis — are all reportedly trying to figure out how to make sure the rules stay in place. The idea is that constantly changing the rules is not good for companies – especially in the automotive sector, where models take 7 years to plan and make. Long-term planning is essential to the hundreds of billions in manufacturing investment that EVs have attracted in the US during Biden's EV push.
These attitudes are remarkable, as they are not made by car manufacturers in 2016/2017. At that time, they were forced to make a few laws, and now they are asking for laws to be made.
It's also worth noting that Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose company lobbied hard to slow emissions and uses the federal EV tax credit more than any other company, is now working with the very same organization that wants to hurt EVs. It seems we have entered the opposite world.
So it remains to be seen where we go from here – on the one hand, doctors, nurses, scientists, environmental groups, many businesses, people who realize they have lungs they'd like to keep using, and so on, generally. support the strongest regulation. Now, automakers have joined the pile calling for stricter regulations.
On the other hand, the former TV host – tagged along with the CEO of the company that has sold us more electric cars than any other – seems determined to kill electric cars, despite the damage it can cause to Americans' pockets and health insurance. premiums. And that character known for revenge may be even more motivated to this dangerous course of action after failing in his attempts the first time.
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