Deutsch
Español
Français
Italiano
Nederlands
Polski
Português
Русский
Türkçe
Svenska
Chinese
MagyarBiden snubs Tesla for emissions mandate as new EVs get cleaner than gas cars in just 25,000 miles
Manufacturers of gas-powered cars prevailed over Tesla in crafting the new vehicle emission standards that President Biden's administration just unveiled.
Instead of Tesla's request for a de facto ban on gas vehicles as soon as 2030, the White House actually loosened its initial emission legislation targets.
When putting its emission standards up for discussion, the government mandated 67% electric light-duty vehicle sales in 2032. Tesla asked it to up the requirement to 69% and effectively put an end to gas vehicles as soon as 2030. It argued that's because at least 28% of all new vehicle sales will be electric as soon as 2026.
That claim now seems rather flimsy, and Biden's administration actually took into account the opposite view, that of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI). It counts as members automakers like GM or Toyota, and asked that the mandate should aim for no more than 50% of new vehicle sales be either electric, plug-in hybrids, or fuel cell by 2030.
In the end, only 31-44% of new light-vehicle sales would need to be electric in 2030, a goal that is much more achievable for legacy automakers as they slowly ramp up their portfolio of clean vehicles.
Electric cars are cleaner than gas vehicles
In fact, despite that they pollute more than gas-powered vehicles during production, electric cars turned out much cleaner in the longer run. For the US market, that run is only about 25,000 miles, after which an EV becomes greener than its ICE counterparts, and that's not even taking into account refinery emissions, or the distribution of gas and diesel to stations.
A new BNEF study took into account everything that goes into the production and operation of modern vehicles, and came up with different numbers for each region. In China, where a lot of the electricity comes from coal, electric cars pollute only 25% less than ICE vehicles over their lifecycle.
In the US, however, an EV would produce less than half of the total emissions that its gas-guzzling counterparts belch out when driven for 150,000 miles, and becomes cleaner in just over two years of usage.
