Automakers fall far short of Biden’s consumption targets

The Environmental Protection Agency’s calculation of USA (EPA) from the modest gains in fuel economy by automakers last year highlights the need for a rapid increase in fuel economy. electric vehicles if the industry wants to meet the proposed objectives.

The EPA reported Friday that automakers achieved an average of 25 miles per gallon for vehicles made during the 2020 model year. That’s 0.8 miles per gallon higher than the 2019 model year and a record, but far from the 83. miles per gallon by 2026 as proposed by the President’s Administration Joe Biden.

“Automotive companies have made great promises to produce clean cars, but the EPA report shows that they have produced very few,” Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Transportation Campaign at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “The Americans cannot push the promises.”

Electric vehicles accounted for just 2% of passenger vehicle sales in 2020, according to an analysis by BloombergNEF.

The EPA report projects that plug-in hybrid cars and fully electric cars will grow from 2% of all production in 2020 to 4% in 2021. The agency said regular hybrids are projected to grow from 5% to 9%.

The Biden Administration has set a goal that half of all vehicles sold in the US will be emissions free by the end of the decade.

Automakers say there will be many more EVs on the way soon.

“We now expect to produce 600,000 electric vehicles a year worldwide by the end of 2023. Double our original plan,” Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley tweeted Thursday.

Officials in the Biden Administration have been far more flexible with automakers than environmentalists in hopes of keeping the industry on board with their ambitious electric vehicle targets and stricter emissions rules.

Environmentalists say automakers will have to show more than a few sleek electric car models to meet Biden’s ambitious emissions targets.