The challenge is enormous. Light-duty vehicles spew some 17 percent of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions. Despite massive investments in battery technology and recent EV production commitments from some automakers, only 3.8 percent of cars sold in June were electric.
The Biden administration has some authority under current law to set car emissions standards without consulting Congress. But the rulemaking is extremely complex and subject to change the minute another president is sworn in to office. During his first year in office, Donald Trump gutted car efficiency standards that Barack Obama had pushed through.
To back up his 2030 goal, Mr. Biden announced Thursday that he would restore much of Mr. Obama’s fuel efficiency program, requiring vehicle fleets to reach an average 52 mpg by 2026, up from the 43 mpg the Trump administration imposed. The Biden administration modeled this plan on a deal the state of California negotiated with Ford, Honda, Volkswagen, Volvo and BMW in 2019. Environmental groups complained that Mr. Biden’s efficiency standards will cut emissions less than Mr. Obama’s would have if Mr. Trump had not ripped up the old rules. But this piece of Mr. Biden’s plan is pragmatic; executive branch efficiency rules are more likely to outlast the Biden administration if they are not maximalist and if automakers feel as though they have a stake in the policy.
Less understandable is the failure of Mr. Biden and other Democrats to push for one of the simplest, most effective measures to discourage gasoline use: a higher federal gas tax. Congress has refused to raise the tax since 1993, even though gasoline use declines in lockstep with gas price increases. As alternative modes of transportation, such as electric vehicles, become more practical, there has never been a better time for a substantial hike that encourages people to switch from gasoline and that raises revenue in the process — revenue that could go toward installing new charging stations or other needed infrastructure.
Democrats instead propose relying on expensive government incentives that lower the cost to the consumer for new electric cars. This is a poor way to reduce demand for gasoline — and, in turn, the burning of that fuel in cars and trucks that run on traditional internal combustion engines. There are 270 million of them on the road now, and huge numbers of them will remain in 2030 absent a policy that directly discourages gasoline use. The goal should not only be turning over the vehicle fleet over the course of the next couple of decades; it should also be to cut emissions as much as practicable now.
Democrats should seek a gasoline-free future. It would be a lot easier if they were not afraid of the best available policy tool.