New EPA Emissions Proposal Puts Supply Chains, Small Businesses At Risk
By Mike Spagnola
The US Environmental Protection Agency released a proposal for strict new federal multipollutant emissions standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles. The proposal would decisively tilt the US car and truck market toward electric vehicles over the next decade. The new standards would initiate for the 2027 model year and gradually increase through the 2032 model year.
If the EPA draft standards are implemented by 2032 as proposed, the agency anticipates that two-thirds of all new-car sales in the US would be electric vehicles. This large-scale shift would significantly disrupt automotive industry supply chains and potentially eliminate large numbers of jobs in vehicle manufacturing, parts production, and repair shops. Ford alone estimates a 30% labor reduction in its transition to electric vehicles.