US President Joe Biden appears outside the White House on his plan to accelerate the shift to electric cars, Washington.Susan Walsh / AP
President Joe Biden on Thursday signed an executive order that sets the goal that half of the new cars sold in the country by 2030 will be electric or zero emissions - battery, fuel cell or plug-in hybrids. The Democrat has focused efforts to combat climate change on the automotive industry as it is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country. In addition, the president wants to accelerate the manufacture of electric cars in the United States to get closer to China, the leader in the clean vehicle market.
The objectives announced by the president are not binding, but the fact that he signed the decree accompanied by the executives of the automotive companies Ford, General Motors and Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler) gave an important signal of alignment between the private company and the sector. public.
Car company leaders expressed their “shared aspiration” to make 40-50% of their vehicles sold electric by 2030, but made it clear in a joint statement that this “drastic change in the market” is only possible if it is accompanied by federal government electrification policies, including new financial incentives for drivers to buy clean cars. The infrastructure bill currently being debated in the Senate includes $ 7.5 billion for electric charging stations. Biden's initial plan asked Congress for $ 174 billion to pay for a network of 500,000 stations. Other Democratic bills include more spending for electric cars, consumer tax incentives and research.
Biden is required to drive change in the auto industry if he wants to cut US emissions in half by 2030, compared to 2005 levels. Gasoline-powered vehicles account for 28% of total carbon emissions in the United States. the country and only 2% of the new cars sold are electric. The auto industry is part of the backbone of the primary sector in the US, so the Democrat needs the sector on his side to push the plan towards electric cars. The great American union of automotive workers,
United Auto Workers
(UAW), assured that its position does not focus “on strict deadlines or percentages, but on preserving the wages and benefits that have been the heart and soul of the class. average American ”.
Last week, Ford's chief executive said his company expects 40% of its global sales to be all electric by 2030. The same goal that Stellantis has set for itself.
While General Motors, the automotive group that owns brands such as Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC, aims to sell only electric cars by 2035.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation have also announced the imposition of strict fuel consumption and emissions standards on new vehicles that the Donald Trump Administration had eliminated.
The White House pointed out that the decreed measures will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles sold in 2030 by more than 60% compared to those from vehicles sold in 2020.
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