When President Biden announced new rules about how much pollution cars can make in March, he made it easier for car companies. They can take longer to switch to electric cars than they first thought. Instead of making two-thirds of all new cars electric by 2032, car companies can now make more hybrid cars that use both gas and electricity.
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Michael Regan, said something surprising. He said that even with these new rules, pollution from cars would still go down a lot.
But after looking into these rule changes and the EPA’s predictions about pollution, the media found something different. The changes mean there will actually be more pollution than first thought. The new rules delay making emissions limits stricter for many years. And the way the rules count pollution from plug-in hybrids is wrong. It says they make less pollution than they really do.
According to the media reports, between 2027 and 2032, cars could make 14% more pollution than originally planned. And the way plug-in hybrids are counted could mean they make 25% to 75% more pollution than thought.
The EPA was going to use new rules to count pollution from plug-in hybrids. But it decided not to after car companies said no. They said it would stop them from making new plug-in cars.
The EPA said the new rules will still make cars less polluting. And it said it didn’t change the rules just because car companies asked. But some people worry that the new rules will mean more cars that use gas, even if they also use electricity.
Stellantis, which makes Jeep and Ram trucks, is one of the car companies that could make more plug-in hybrids. They sell a lot of these kinds of cars already. They say plug-in cars can help make pollution go down.
The EPA’s rules are still important because they mean less pollution overall. But people will have to wait and see if they make enough difference.
