As the Biden administration confronts the reality of slow EV sales, the decision has been made to give manufacturers more time to phase out gas cars.
Last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed requirements necessitating automakers to ensure that EVs constituted 67% of their sales for light-duty vehicles and 46% for medium-duty vehicles by 2032.
Now, the administration has announced a fresh set of standards permitting carmakers additional leeway to comply with emission regulations. Under the new guidelines, carmakers must produce a fleet of vehicles that will slash greenhouse gas emissions by half by the year 2032.
This adjustment was mostly due to resistance from the auto industry and its labor unions, who highlight that EVs constitute merely 6% of U.S. vehicle sales and have recently hit a plateau.
Automakers have reacted by reducing or postponing EV production. For instance, Ford, facing losses of $1 billion per quarter on EV production, announced a $12 billion postponement in EV production. Similarly, GM revised its target to manufacture 400,000 EVs by mid-year, while Volkswagen abandoned plans for a $2 billion EV factory in Germany.
Although EVs carry a higher price tag compared to traditional gasoline-powered vehicles, despite government subsidies, their costs have decreased, particularly for used EVs.
A recent study by iSeeCars.com indicates that while the average price of used cars has dipped by 3.6% in the last year, used EV prices have plummeted by 31.8%, but these price reductions have not triggered a surge in demand. Despite high hopes initially for the EV industry, the figures show that they are less popular than predicted.
NPR, in a recent report, attributes the sluggish EV sales to a gap between early adopters, who are enthusiastic about EVs, and the broader consumer base. However, it’s becoming clear that this gap will take longer than expected to narrow – if it ever closes at all.
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