‘Extreme’: Major Automakers Slam Biden’s EV Plan As Unrealistic

Major automobile manufacturers criticized a Biden administration proposal to regulate emissions, warning that it would stress critical mineral supplies and require unrealistic levels of electric vehicle sales, Bloomberg reported Monday.

Comments filed by Stellantis NV and Toyota Motor Corp. scolded the Environmental Protection Agency for its plan aiming for automakers to ramp up electric vehicle production so intensely that EVs would account for 67% of light-duty vehicles and 46% of medium-duty vehicles by 2032; electric vehicles only make up roughly 10% of the current market, according to Bloomberg. The EPA’s proposed tailpipe emissions regulations are expected to prompt the shift.

Toyota called the Biden administration proposal “unrealistic and not supported by the U.S. Department of Energy or any other projections.”

“The Proposed Rule underestimates key challenges, including the scarcity of minerals to make batteries, the fact that these minerals are not mined or refined in the US, the inadequate infrastructure and the high cost of battery-electric vehicles,” according to Toyota.

Critics fear that such a policy would effectively create an electric car mandate and remove consumer choice, according to Bloomberg.

Stellantis said that an EPA plan  was “overly optimistic” and assumed “a perfect transition” without considering lagging manufacturing capacity and consumer support,” Bloomberg reported.

The EPA’s proposed electric vehicle adoption rate “far exceeds what is supported by the policy actions in place and adds significant risk to the automotive industry who must comply with these standards whether these assumptions hold true or not,” Stellantis said according to Bloomberg.

Ford Motor Co. had previously called on the EPA to lighten their strict requirements between 2027 and 2029, so that it would create an easier transition to proposed 2032 standards. The American car company encouraged the EPA “to avoid setting criteria emissions requirements that will force unnecessarily large or ill-timed investments and distract both automakers and the supply base with little air quality benefit.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.