America Accelerates to Cleaner Air, More Jobs with EPA Proposals to Limit Pollution from New Cars, Freight Trucks, Buses

“Today, America accelerated toward a clean transportation future and more jobs. The tailpipe pollution limits proposed today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – both for new passenger cars and trucks, and for new urban delivery and freight trucks and buses – will give all Americans cleaner air and a safer climate, while also creating jobs and saving people money.

“The EPA clean air proposals announced today will slash billions of tons of climate pollution, along with health-harming pollution that causes thousands of premature deaths annually. With these clean air standards, EPA estimates that in 2032 about two-thirds of the new cars and passenger trucks sold in America will be tailpipe pollution free, and EPA’s proposal will ensure that up to half of new urban delivery and freight vehicles sold by 2032 will be zero-emitting. Together with the incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act, the proposals will drive more investment in manufacturing of, and new charging infrastructure for, zero-emitting vehicles. They will provide important financial savings for American families, whether they are buying new or used zero-emitting cars – thousands of dollars in lifetime fuel cost savings together with up to $7500 in consumer clean vehicle tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act. They’ll also allow truckers to see substantial fuel cost savings beyond the $40,000 clean commercial vehicle tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act.

“Today’s EPA proposals build from President Biden’s vision for clean transportation, a vision that was set out in his 2021 Executive Order Strengthening American Leadership in Clean Cars and Trucks and was supported by Ford, General Motors, Stellantis (Chrysler), and the UAW. The proposals are firmly grounded in EPA’s decades-long approach to setting pollution standards for tailpipe emissions. They consider and reflect the already growing market for zero-emitting vehicles – a market now turbocharged by the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Our new report, with WSP, found that more than $120 billion in investments in U.S. electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities have already been announced, and almost half of those in the last six months -- since passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. Those massive investments in numerous states – including Michigan, Tennessee, Georgia, Nevada, Kentucky, South Carolina, Ohio, North Carolina, Indiana, Kansas, Arizona, California, Alabama, Texas and Illinois -- will support more than 143,000 new jobs in America. Today’s EPA proposals will drive that progress further forward.

“EPA has launched us on a critically important journey to a clean transportation future.”

            - Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund