The Biden administration has dropped a proposal that would have benefited carmakers creating renewable fuel used to charge up electric vehicles.
The proposal would require carmakers, such as Tesla and Rivian, to be included in the 18-year-old Renewable Fuel Standard requiring refiners to mix biofuels into gasoline and diesel. The credit program would have allowed electric car manufacturers to meet the requirements by claiming credits if they use electricity generated from natural gas.
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However, the proposal hit a speed bump after U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials expressed concern over not being able to finalize details of the electric vehicle initiative to meet the deadline set for June 14, according to Bloomberg.
The benefit automakers would have enjoyed from this proposal would have been tradeable credits known as “renewable identification numbers,” which refiners use to show they are meeting quotas. Under the now-dropped plan, automakers could receive e-renewable identification numbers, or eRINs, when electricity was used as fuel for electric vehicles.
Truck stop and charging station owners criticized the plan, saying that giving eRINs to automakers would fuel electric-vehicle production but would not do anything to help investment in charging infrastructure. The proposal has also been criticized by fuel refiners, who have argued that the EPA was never given permission by Congress to create a new biofuel credit in the first place.
Prior to the plan being put on ice, Tesla, Rivian Automotive Inc., and the Zero Emissions Transportation Association had all been in favor of the plan.
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The delay of this credit program comes as lawmakers across the United States are seeking to find ways to make automakers more environmentally friendly. In April, the state of California became the first in the U.S. to approve regulation of ending diesel truck sales by 2036. The phasing out of medium and heavy-duty diesel truck sales by the year 2036 ties into Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) plan of having all such trucks travel in California producing zero emissions by 2045.
“The future happens here first, and California is once again showing the world what real climate action looks like,” Newsom said. “Last year, our state approved one of the world’s first regulations requiring all new car sales to be zero emissions. Now, with these actions requiring all new heavy-duty truck sales to be zero emission and tackling train pollution in our state, we’re one step closer to achieving healthier neighborhoods and cleaner air for all Californians.”
