President Joe Biden made two things clear when he first stepped inside the White House: America must increase domestic manufacturing and decrease carbon emissions. With the transportation sector being the largest contributor of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States at 27 percent, the Biden Administration has been working diligently to combat this statistic. However, America has little hope of achieving the set goals for several reasons and warrants deliberate attention.
The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act was a large investment in a cleaner America from creating jobs and fairer tax codes to reducing energy and health costs. One portion works to increase domestic manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs) due to their net zero carbon emissions profile, a key characteristic in combating climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed, in addition, a significant reduction in carbon emitted from vehicles by 2032. To abide by the EPA’s proposed standard, over 28 million gasoline-powered vehicles need to be replaced by EVs from 2027 to 2032. The production of critical minerals necessary to make the EV batteries is insufficient. An estimated 5 million EVs can be produced, falling eminently short.
It is certainly a good question to ask how these goals were set when its realization is, let’s face it, farfetched. Potentially the goals were not a means of achieving actual emissions reduction, but rather a political move to please voters. With a 2020 Pew Research Center study finding that over two-thirds of Americans think the government should do more on climate issues, setting an optimistic goal would certainly please most Americans. The failure of the goal would only be realized years following Biden’s 2024 presidential run and thus makes for a feasible plan.
Nevertheless, if policymakers do little to increase EV production, an estimated 460 million total tons of carbon will be released into the atmosphere. This would occur as consumers, unable to purchase EVs due to limited supply, are forced to purchase carbon-emitting gasoline-powered vehicles. Ashley Nunes PhD, senior research associate at Harvard Law School, and his team outlined several pathways to decrease this figure. First, among the eight primary minerals used in the battery of EVs, graphite was found to be the key limiting mineral. However, a tremendous increase in extraction rates is needed to achieve the required EV sales to meet the EPA’s standard and decrease carbon emissions. Policymakers must have a steadfast focus on increasing graphite production by expediting current mine operations and opening mines above dormant reserves through increased government funding. Secondly, increased adoption of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) may be the solution as they utilize an electric battery and their sales volume is estimated to achieve rates needed to meet the EPA’s standard.
Our atmosphere is a ticking time bomb that cannot afford to have more carbon pumped into it. Certainly, Biden’s goal was one that needed to be made, however, achievable goals need to be set. When citizens of America are encouraged to make cleaner choices by purchasing EVs, what good does it make when its greater adoption is impossible? Policymakers must work diligently to create a cleaner future, one that’s possible.
