GHG Emissions, Industrial, Regulation  -  October 29, 2018

GM proposes national EV policy

General Motors has proposed the establishment of a new National Zero Emissions Vehicle (NZEV) program that has the potential to place more than 7 million long-range EVs on the road by 2030—25% of all new cars— for a cumulative incremental reduction of 375 tons of CO2 emissions between 2021 and 2030 over the existing ZEV program.

According to a statement from GM, the company filed comments to the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule for Model Years 2021-2026 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks on Oct. 26. In its comments, GM proposed "to support a 50-state solution, promote the success of the U.S. automotive industry and preserve U.S. industrial leadership for years to come."

 "General Motors has a vision of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion," said Mark Reuss, executive vice president and president, Global Product Group and Cadillac. "This is a bold vision and getting there will take bold actions.” He added, “We believe in a policy approach that better promotes U.S. innovation and starts a much-needed national discussion on electric vehicle development and deployment in this country. A National Zero Emissions Program will drive the scale and infrastructure investments needed to allow the U.S. to lead the way to a zero emissions future."

General Motors provided the following framework recommendations based on the existing ZEV program:

• Establish ZEV requirements (by credits) each year, starting at 7% in 2021 and increasing 2% each year to 15% by 2025, then 25% by 2030.
• Use of a crediting system modeled on the current ZEV program: credits per vehicle, based on EV range, as well as averaging, banking and trading.
• Requirements after 2025 linked to a path toward commercially viable EV battery cell availability at a cost of $70/kWh and adequate EV infrastructure development.
• Establishment of a Zero Emissions Task Force to promote complementary policies.
• Program terminates when 25 percent target is met, or based on a determination that the battery cost or infrastructure targets are not practicable within the timeframe.
• Additional consideration for EVs deployed as autonomous vehicles and in rideshare programs.

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