Biden Pledges Reversal of Trump Rollback of Auto Fuel Efficiency Standards

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - President Joe Biden pledged a new set of fuel efficiency standards for a broad class of vehicles from cars to heavy duty trucks, reversing a series of Trump administration rollbacks even as the nation strives to electrify half of vehicles sold by 2030.

“We have a playbook and its going to work,” Biden said in a speech on the South Lawn of the White House. “First and following through on a campaign commitment to reverse the previous administration’s shortsighted rollback of vehicle and emissions and efficiency standards.”

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation are “beginning to work on the next round of standards for a broad class of vehicles, for cars, SUVs, pickup trucks, medium and heavy duty vehicles,” Biden added.

“Despite pioneering the technology, the U.S. is behind in the race to manufacture these vehicles and the batteries that go in them.  Today, the U.S. market share of electric vehicle sales is only one-third that of the Chinese electric vehicle market,” the White House said earlier. 

The future of the auto industry is electric. There’s no turning back.

— President Biden (@POTUS) August 5, 2021

The Obama administration, in which Biden served as vice president, set standards to roughly double average fuel efficiency of new vehicles to about 50 miles per gallon by 2025. The Trump administration nixed those standards, claiming they were unrealistic.

Biden offered little detail on new mileage targets for vehicles powered by internal combustion engines. Instead, he focused on a goal for half of all cars and trucks sold in 2030 being powered by batteries instead of gasoline and diesel oil.