Not only does GM oppose the White House’s plan to stop California from requiring automakers to sell more EVs, it wants the rest of the nation to adopt a similar EV plan.
The suggestion comes from GM’s VP of Global Product Development, Mark Reuss, who said the automaker plans to propose that federal regulators embrace a nationwide EV sales program as of 2021.
The suggestion comes in the midst of a battle that is heating up between California and the US over emissions regulations. The federal government wants to walk back MPGtargets it set previously and prevent California from setting its own EV requirements.
ALSO SEE: GM Will Reach Electric Car Tax Credit Limit This Year
The plan has raised concerns from the automotive industry, environmental observers, and even from employees within the EPA—one of the organizations that is spearheading the feds’ attempts to challenge the state’s rights to set its own emissions targets—saying that it defies data that the EPA itself collected.
“We know that we can do better” than the Trump proposal, Reuss, told reporters. “We know that the industry can do better than that.”
GM argues that its proposed program could put 7 million EVs on the road and avoid 375 million tons of carbon dioxide by 2030, compared to the current regulations that the White House is trying to overturn.
GM is joined by Honda in its vocal opposition to the White House’s plan, though that automaker is recommending that California and the federal government find a compromise and adopt a nation-wide plan.
Finding emission regulations that the whole country can agree on will be important for automakers, who are concerned that the regulatory fight will lead to a schism. That schism could result in automakers being required to effectively make a second fleet of cars for the states that side with the federal government and its new emissions regulations, in addition to the one they are already planning that would sell in California and the 18 other states that are continuing with the emissions rules set before the current administration took office.
[source: Automotive News]
This post originally appeared on GMInsideNews.com