Similar article not behind a paywall:
https://fortune.com/2023/04/12/new-bide ... ales-2032/
The Biden administration is proposing strict new automobile pollution limits that would require as many as two-thirds of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2032, a nearly tenfold increase over current electric vehicle sales.
The proposed regulation, announced Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency, would set tailpipe emissions limits for the 2027 through 2032 model years that are the strictest ever imposed — and call for far more new EV sales than the auto industry agreed to less than two years ago.
If finalized next year as expected, the plan would represent the strongest push yet toward a once almost unthinkable shift from gasoline-powered cars and trucks to battery-powered vehicles.
And before that, there was this:
Specifically, the President will sign an Executive Order that sets an ambitious new target to make half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or fuel cell electric vehicles. The Executive Order also kicks off development of long-term fuel efficiency and emissions standards to save consumers money, cut pollution, boost public health, advance environmental justice, and tackle the climate crisis.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-roo ... 20vehicles.
I have a few family members who work in related industries, including one who is quite liberal, and both say this is a trainwreck waiting to happen. Their argument is that the government is mandating only side of the coin - that the flip side is electrical grid capacity, and there are no mandates to be found to increase our electrical grid's capacity (which is already borderline overtaxed, especially during the summer) to handle the charging needs of that many new electrical cars on the road.
Take somebody who, for example, drives a modest 15,000 miles per year. If your efficiency is at 320 watts per mile, that's 4800kw of electricity needed (assuming 100% charging efficiency) per year, or 400 kw per month. Take an average sized household that consumes 500 to 1000 kw of electricity per month depending on the time of year, and you're talking a significant increase in power consumption. Drive more miles, or have 2 cars that drive that many miles, and you could end up nearly doubling your power consumption. The grid is nowhere near ready for this.
