If there’s one thing President Joe Biden excels at, it’s reading party progressives and bending to appease them.
He’s willing to leave an ally and sole Middle East democracy hanging to win over “uncommitted” voters and assorted anti-Israel blocs. Biden will spend trillions to support a Green New Deal agenda, economy be damned.
And now, he’s gone all in on his push to get Americans to drive electric vehicles even if they don’t want to.
The Biden administration on Wednesday issued one of its most ambitious climate rules, a move that could make electric cars the majority of U.S. auto sales eight years from now, according to Politico.
The final version of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Cars rule is the strictest federal climate regulation ever issued for passenger cars and trucks — even though it offers manufacturers a slightly slower phase-in of pollution limits than the EPA had first proposed last spring.
Biden said the rule fulfills his promise to cut the nation’s carbon pollution in half by the end of the decade while promoting American workers. “Together, we’ve made historic progress. Hundreds of new expanded factories across the country. Hundreds of billions in private investment and thousands of good-paying union jobs,” Biden said in a statement.
“And we’ll meet my goal for 2030 and race forward in the years ahead.”
That’s music to the ears of climate activists. But for the rest of the country?
The American Petroleum Institute and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers came out against the rule, saying it would eliminate most new gasoline-fueled cars in less than a decade “at a time when Americans are struggling with high costs and inflation.”
“This regulation will make new gas-powered vehicles unavailable or prohibitively expensive for most Americans. For them, this wildly unpopular policy is going to feel and function like a ban,” the groups said in a joint statement.
That’s one way to deal with a public reluctant to purchase electric vehicles.
Last month, Mercedes-Benz became the latest carmaker to push back its plans for electric vehicles to make up most of its sales.
As Fox Business reported, the German luxury brand now says it won’t meet its 2025 deadline to have EVs, including hybrids, make up 50% of all sales. Lackluster demand for electric-powered cars has delayed that goal until at least 2030, the company said.
CEO Ola Kaellenius had warned late last year that even in Europe, sales would likely not be all-electric by 2030, with battery-powered cars currently making up just 11% of total sales, and 19% including hybrids.
Benz is not alone, weak demand for EVs has prompted several automakers to slow down their EV push and refocus on higher-margin hybrid and gas-powered models.
Will Biden’s new move win over the hearts and minds of Americans saying “no thanks” to electric vehicles? Not if EVs remain more expensive than gas-powered cars. According to Fox News, even factoring in generous federal and state subsidies, the average cost of an EV is about $52,500, while the average subcompact car costs $24,000.
But cost, affordability and factors such as the strength of electric grids to handle demand are mere details to those inside the Beltway. They may be seeing green, but many voters will see red over this move.
