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Hummer electric trucks on the GM assembly line in Detroit - the EPA has not yet calculated a comparative value for gasoline consumption for this heavy model
Photo: JONATHAN ERNST / Reuters
In the fight against climate change, the administration of US President Joe Biden has set stricter limits for CO2 emissions from cars. The environmental protection agency EPA spoke of the "most ambitious" emission standards for greenhouse gases from automobiles in the country's history. The new rules affect vehicles from model years 2023 to 2026. By 2050, the requirements could save more than three billion tons of greenhouse gases, the EPA said.
According to the new requirements, from 2026 onwards, in relation to the entire vehicle fleet, cars will officially have to be able to travel at least 55 miles (88.51 kilometers) on a gallon of gasoline (just under 3.8 liters) in order to reduce CO2 emissions per route . In real traffic, a minimum value of 40 miles (64.37 kilometers) applies. The EPA calculates comparative values for electric cars. By selling more electric cars, automakers can improve their quota.
The new emissions standards are an important part of Biden's climate protection policy.
"We followed the science, we listened to the stakeholders, and we set robust and rigorous standards that will aggressively lower the pollution that harms people and our planet," said EPA chief Michael Regan.
At the same time, Regan described the new specifications as "feasible".
They would mean that motorists would have to spend less money on gasoline.
Despite the higher acquisition costs, this results in savings of $ 1,000 over the life of a car.
Purchase bonus for electric cars on the brink
The agency puts the net benefit of the measures - for example through less pollution, better health of the people and savings in refueling - at 190 billion dollars (around 170 billion euros).
Biden's predecessor Donald Trump had relaxed the requirements for the automotive industry.
Biden reversed this in August.
With the limit values that have now been adopted, the EPA is going beyond its draft at the time.
Authorities representatives said that the rules could be tightened again in the coming year.
The president began with the promise to make the fight against global warming a central pillar of his policy.
Biden has set the goal that half of the new cars sold in 2030 will be fully electric or plug-in hybrids.
The EPA estimates that their new rule will achieve a rate of 17 percent by 2026.
In the first half of 2021 it was only 3.1 percent, while Germany already achieved 22.5 percent.
However, Biden's climate protection efforts suffered a major setback at the weekend. The Democratic Senator Joe Manchin announced on Sunday that he would not vote for the president's trillion-dollar climate and social package. In view of the extremely tight majority in the Senate, Biden is dependent on Manchin's vote. The announcement by the influential right-wing Democratic Senator could therefore be the death knell for Biden's ambitious reform agenda. Among other things, tax credits are on the brink of promoting the sale of electric cars.
The head of the UAW automobile union, Ray Curry, said in an interview on Monday that he hoped that the subsidy would be decided after all.
Representatives of the major US auto companies General Motors, Ford and Stellantis accompanied the head of the authorities, Regan, during his announcement.
Without state aid, the new goals would be more difficult for them to achieve, but they would still be a binding rule.
ak / AFP / Reuters
