US Big Corporates Push for Zero Emissions Vehicle Regulations
With a President-elect pledging to take meaningful action on climate change, Corporate America stands ready to act and take advantage of pro-renewables and clean-tech policies. The Zero Emissions Transport Association (ZETA) is a new federal coalition “advocating for national policies that will enable 100% electric vehicle sales throughout the light-, medium-, and heavy-duty sectors by 2030."
Comprising some of America’s largest corporate entities ranging from Tesla and Rivian, through to Uber, conEdison and Duke Energy, ZETA wants to see the full adoption of electric vehicles to secure American global EV manufacturing leadership, and reduce carbon pollution and therefore, emissions.
Policy goals of ZETA include:
Expanded incentives, which means not only lifting the per-manufacturer cap on the $7,500 consumer tax credit, but also making it a "point of sale" rebate. Other goals include a program to incentivize trade-ins of fossil fuel-powered vehicles.
Federal emissions and efficiency performance standards that will send the "correct market signals" for faster electric vehicle deployment by the auto industry.
New federal infrastructure investments and support for domestic manufacturing, and support for local pro-electric vehicle policies.
According to Joe Britton, the Executive Director of ZETA, “Transportation is responsible for more carbon emissions than any other sector of the U.S. economy. By embracing EVs, federal policymakers can help drive innovation, create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and improve air quality and public health.”
ZETA believes that consumer incentives drive adoption of new technology, and represent one real way to drive the shift to EVs in the US. Providing credits for older combustion engined vehicles will help to speed the transition, and will also boost domestic economic growth. ZETA hopes that a Biden administration would use policy mechanisms to encourage job creation in the EV manufacturing and supply chains. Biden has already stated that he wants the federal government to move towards a 100% clean energy fleet, and wants to work closely with state governors and mayors to roll-out 500,000 new public chaging stations by 2030.
Electric car sales are increasing in market share across the world, while conbustion-engined passenger car sales are slowing. This has been further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The overall market share of plug-in vehicles is still relatively small however, comprising 326,000 or 2% of the total market in the US in 2019, 564,206 or 3.6% of the total market in Europe, and 1,180,000 or 6.8% of the market in China.
For more information visit https://www.zeta2030.org/
Source: Axios
Image: ZETA
Image: ZETA