Understand the Issue

The Biden-Harris administration, in partnership with California, is overseeing a whole-of-government effort to ban most new gas, diesel and flex fuel vehicles. The end game shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. It was a feature of both President Biden’s and Vice President Harris’ the President’s 2020 climate plan2020 and 2019 climate plans, respectively. This policy agenda—spearheaded largely by the Biden-Harris Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Transportation (DOT)—is bad for Americans, bad for our economy and bad for U.S. national security. And sadly, most Americans know little to nothing about what’s going on, though their opposition to gas car bans and electric vehicle (EV) mandates is clear.

 

The big 3 government policies advancing the ‘gas car ban agenda’...

 

1.    EPA’s pending authorization of California’s ban
California’s ban on sales of new gas, diesel and traditional hybrid vehicles requires EPA approval before it can be implemented, and implementation begins soon—with model year 2026 cars and trucks. If EPA authorizes the California ban, it’s going to become law in a dozen states, covering roughly 35% of the U.S. population and auto market.


2.    EPA’s passenger vehicle standards 
This final EPA regulation, covering model year 2027-2032 passenger vehicles, is going to functionally ban the sale of most new gas cars by 2032. EPA’s own compliance scenarios show sales of gas cars, under this regulation, are likely going to need to fall from 84% of overall sales today to below 30% in less than eight years. EPA’s standard is not tech neutral. None of today’s gas cars, diesel cars or traditional hybrids, on their own, come close to meeting the 2032 tailpipe emissions target of 85 grams/mile. Only five plug-in hybrids would make the cut, but all EVs get a perfect score regardless of their other environmental and emissions impacts. Because of this regulation, consumers will have significantly fewer gas car choices and vastly restricted access to affordable vehicles capable of meeting their needs. Read more on this specific policy here.


3.    DOT’s fuel economy standards
The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards finalized by the Department of Transportation (DOT) in June also promote electrification of the U.S. vehicle fleet. DOT included EVs (which receive inflated miles-per-gallon credit) in their calculation of the new CAFE targets establishing 50.4 miles per gallon as the average fuel economy U.S. cars and trucks must achieve by model year 2031. This goes against Congress’s direction not to include EVs when setting CAFE standards. Congress intended for fuel economy targets to be ambitious but feasible for gas- and diesel-powered vehicles. The standards are not supposed to be set at levels that require EV adoption.

 

There’s a better way than banning gas cars...

 

AFPM is drawing attention to these policies because we know there is a better way to cut carbon and improve vehicle performance and efficiency for consumers. AFPM members are doing that work, and unlike the Biden-Harris administration’s big three proposals, we believe successful, consumer-first policies must consider the full lifecycle impacts of all fuels and vehicles (not just tailpipe emissions) and encourage real competition across vehicle technologies and powertrains.

 

For a deeper dive on the issue, visit AFPM.org and read the pieces below.

 

Read more: