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The U.S. government is reversing its efforts to increase vehicle fuel efficiency, which began in the 1970s with state and federal cooperation. On July 29, 2025, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced plans to rescind its 2009 decision known as the “endangerment finding,” which deemed greenhouse gases a threat to public health and welfare. If this ruling stands in court or is not overturned by Congress, it would undo a key part of longstanding efforts to limit vehicle emissions.
Despite this setback, I believe the shift toward electric vehicles will continue but at a slower pace and with higher costs. The scientific consensus remains strong that vehicle emissions contribute to climate change and should be regulated. Public opinion also supports cleaner cars, including both more efficient gas-burning vehicles and electric ones. Consumers are attracted to EVs for their performance, lower operating costs, and innovative technologies.
The most recent EPA rule on vehicle emissions set standards that can only realistically be met through a large-scale shift to electric vehicles. Automakers have been investing in this transition over the past decade and a half due to regulations like California’s zero-emission-vehicle requirements. These rules require automakers to produce EVs for the California market, making it easier to meet federal efficiency and emissions targets.
The new EPA move would nullify the 2024 vehicle-emissions rule and other federal regulations limiting emissions from vehicles, such as the heavy-duty vehicle emissions rule. This regulatory uncertainty puts manufacturers in a difficult position. Legal challenges are inevitable, potentially taking years to resolve. For companies making long-term investment decisions, regulatory stability is crucial. Disrupting this stability undermines business planning, erodes investor confidence, and sends conflicting signals to consumers and suppliers.
The Trump administration has furthered this effort by suspending key provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act that provided tax credits for purchasing EVs and halting a $5 billion investment in a nationwide charging station network. Congress also retracted the federal waiver allowing California to set stricter emissions limits. These policies make it challenging to buy and drive electric vehicles, with fewer financial incentives and fewer charging stations.
However, U.S. consumer interest in electric vehicles has been growing, and automakers have already made substantial investments to produce EVs and their components in the U.S., such as Hyundai’s EV factory in Georgia and Volkswagen’s Battery Engineering Lab in Tennessee. Global markets, particularly in Europe and China, are also moving toward electrifying large portions of their vehicle fleets due to aggressive government regulation.
A slower rollout of clean vehicles means more cumulative emissions, greater climate damage, and harm to public health. The EPA’s proposal aims to slow the shift to electric vehicles by removing incentives and raising costs, even though market trends and scientific evidence support cleaner transportation options. Yet, such a major policy change cannot halt the momentum behind these positive trends.
