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This week’s transportation news featured more fallout from the change in federal administration, as Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy signed an order aimed at rolling back fuel economy standards set by the Biden administration.
The standards required a 65-mpg average for passenger cars and 35.1 for light trucks and SUVs by 2031. Duffy wrote that the standards “are set at such aggressive levels that automakers cannot, as a practical matter, satisfy the standards without rapidly shifting production away from internal combustion engine vehicles.”
Meanwhile, a new report from Wood Mackenzie estimates that the Trump administration’s early executive orders could reduce EV adoption by about 30% by 2030. Removing the consumer and commercial tax credits for EVs would be especially detrimental to the market, the company noted.
The Trump administration has also paused the distribution of grants from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program, though doubts remain about whether the administration can legally freeze this funding. There is also significant uncertainty regarding the extent to which the administration will be able to claw back funds from these programs that have already been committed to state governments.
The federal retreat from policies boosting electric vehicles could put more pressure on policymakers in states with ambitious climate goals and mandates. New York state legislators criticized vehicle electrification mandates as unrealistic at a recent hearing and questioned the state’s electrification timeline.
In industry news, GM told shareholders that it is making progress on the profitability of its electric vehicles. The company said that its EV revenues have surpassed the fixed costs of manufacturing the vehicles. However, it appears to be lagging on the timeline for EV profitability set by its CEO in 2024.
All that and more in this week’s Intelligence Report:
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