While the Biden administration’s electric vehicle mandates continue to run up against roadblocks — primarily, consumers are reluctant to buy the EVs at rates President Joe Biden wants — it’s also looking to force trucking companies to transition their trucks over to electric.
The plan has been met with considerable opposition from the trucking industry. Just about every product Americans consume at some point — and sometimes multiple points — along the supply chain shipped by vehicles is impacted by the rules. A new study shows that the cost of this mandated transition will boost Biden’s already high inflation rates up another percentage point.
The Institute for Energy Research, a free-market energy think tank, predicts that due to the costs of this forced transition, businesses will resist the mandates. Should the mandates proceed despite the objections from industry, the transition to electric trucks will disrupt supply chains and drive up the costs of most goods.
“Unachievable”
On the heels of its tailpipe emissions standards that are mandating a large portion of passenger cars be electric by 2032, the Biden administration passed emission standards for heavy duty trucks.
Under the currently proposed rules, about 30% of heavy-duty vocational trucks, which includes delivery trucks, garbage trucks, cement trucks, tractor-trailer trucks and school buses, will need to be zero emission by 2032. The rules also require that 40% of day cabs, which are heavy-duty trucks without a sleeper cab, will need to be zero emission vehicles.