Part of the push for individuals and businesses alike to transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is that they are more eco-friendly than their gasoline-powered counterparts. And while EVs may have a smaller carbon footprint and emit less greenhouse gases than traditional cars, the jury could still be out on if they are more efficient, according to The Wall Street Journal.
For gas-powered car manufacturers, their fuel-efficiency must be measured in a laboratory with real figures, per the U.S. Department of Transportation’s rules. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy allows automakers to multiply their EVs’ efficiency by 6.67.
‘This means that although a 2022 Tesla Model Y tests at the equivalent of about 65 miles per gallon in a laboratory (roughly the same as a hybrid), it is counted as having an absurdly high compliance value of 430 mpg. That number has no basis in reality or law,” attorneys Michael Buschbacher and James Conde wrote for The Wall Street Journal.
If this is the case, automakers can inflate how efficient their EVs are and receive compliance credits from the government that they can exchange for cash. Such credits could be worth billions, according to economists—subsidies that could come at the expense of gas-powered car drivers.
“Until recently, this subsidy was a Washington secret,” Buschbacher and Conde wrote. “Carmakers and regulators liked it that way. Regulators could announce what sounded like stringent targets, and carmakers would nod along, knowing they could comply by making electric cars with arbitrarily boosted compliance values. Consumers would unknowingly foot the bill.”
Once environmental groups discovered this rule and questioned its legality, the Energy Department proposed discarding the 6.67 multiplier for EVs because the figure, “lacks legal support” and has “no basis.”
Now car manufacturers have asked the Biden administration to delay a reversal to the multiplier rule, The Wall Street Journal reports. The request would make sense as it would be difficult to meet the Transportation Department’s standards without it.
“But workable rules don’t require government-created cheat codes,” Buschbacher and Conde wrote. “Carmakers should confront that problem head on.”
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