Stephan: Joe Biden as President is very interesting to watch. Because he was a Senator for 36 years, and Vice President for 8, he has spent most of his adult life learning how to make American government work to foster wellbeing, which is his Rooseveltian inclination. Notice how he committed to the transition out of carbon powered vehicles, promising millions of new union jobs and, at the same time, raised the miles per gallon to 52 by 2026, which is going to be very expensive to achieve, while at the same time he is tightening emissions levels, which will also be expensive to achieve. This is a classic example of Smiling Buffalo leadership. Smile in the direction you want to go, while leaning in that direction.
Electric cars charging at the University of California, Irvine, in 2015. “When I say electric vehicles are the future, I’m not joking,” the president wrote in a tweet on Wednesday. Credit: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
WASHINGTON — President Biden on Thursday announced a multistep strategy aimed at rapidly shifting Americans from gasoline-powered cars and trucks toward electric vehicles — a central part of his plan to reduce the pollution that is heating the planet.
Mr. Biden is first restoring and slightly strengthening auto mileage standards to the levels that existed under President Barack Obama but were weakened during the Trump administration. The new rules, which would apply to vehicles in the model year 2023, would cut about one-third of the carbon dioxide produced annually by the United States and prevent the burning of about 200 billion gallons of gasoline over the lifetime of the cars, according to a White House fact sheet.
The administration next plans to draft even more stringent pollution rules for both passenger vehicles and heavy-duty trucks that are designed to compel automakers to ramp up sales of electric vehicles.
