Ev incentive policies should target reducing gasoline use

• Date: 01 February 2022

22022 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER 52 ELR 10089

COMMENT

EV INCENTIVE POLICIES SHOULD

TARGET REDUCING GASOLINE USE

by Matthew Metz and Janelle London

Matthew Metz and Janelle London are Co-Executive Directors at Coltura, a nonprof‌it

working to accelerate the switch from gasoline and diesel to cleaner alternatives.

The United States uses more gasoline than any other

nation.¹ Gasoline is the source of 17% of U.S. car-

bon emissions.² To achieve emissions reductions

consistent with the 2030 goals set by the Joseph Biden

Admin istrat ion³ and the Intergovernmental Panel on Cli-

mate Change (IPCC), annual U.S. gasoline use by light-

duty vehicles will need to decline by 67%, or 96 billion

gallons, in the next eight years.

Electric vehicles (EVs) cause much lower carbon and

particulate emissions than gasoline-burning interna l com-

bustion engine vehicle s, while providing c omparable (and

often superior) performance and mobility. EVs emit about

three times less carbon than equivalent gas-powered cars

1. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Frequently Asked Questions

(FAQS): What Countries Are the Top Producers and Consumers of Oil?, https://

www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=709&t=6 (last updated Dec. 8, 2021).

2. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse

Gas Emissions and Sinks, https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-

greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks (last updated Oct. 26, 2021).

3. Fact Sheet, e White House, President Biden Sets 2030 Greenhouse

Gas Pollution Reduction Target Aimed at Creating Good-Paying Union

Jobs and Securing U.S. Leadership on Clean Energy Technologies (Apr.

22, 2021), https://www.whitehouse.gov/brieng-room/statements-releas-

es/2021/04/22/fact-sheet-president-biden-sets-2030-greenhouse-gas-pol-

lution-reduction-target-aimed-at-creating-good-paying-union-jobs-and-

securing-u-s-leadership-on-clean-energy-technologies/.

4. e IPCC warned in 2018 that global emissions must drop 45% from

a 2010 baseline by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

IPCC, Headline Statements, https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/resources/headline-

statements/ (last visited Dec. 17, 2021).

5. is calculation takes into account upstream emissions from gasoline and

electricity production. It does not include electric vehicle (EV) manufactur-

ing emissions for two principal reasons. First, battery technology, manufac-

turing, and recycling processes are changing quickly, and it is not possible to

predict with condence the material composition of batteries and the ener-

gy requirements of battery manufacturing in 2030. Estimates of the carbon

intensity of existing EV battery manufacturing vary enormously. See, e.g.,

I C  C T, E  B-

 M  E V L-C G

G E (2018), https://theicct.org/sites/default/les/publications/

EV-life-cycle-GHG_ICCT-Brieng_09022018_vF.pdf. Second, reliable

data is not available for calculating vehicle manufacturing emissions from

the IPCC and Biden baseline years of 2010 and 2005.

6. See, e.g., U  C S, E V A

C T G— G B (2020), https://www.

ucsusa.org/sites/default/les/2020-05/evs-cleaner-than-gasoline.pdf; U.S.

Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center, Emissions From Hy-

brid and Plug-In Electric Vehicles, https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_

emissions.html (last visited Dec. 17, 2021); Dave Vanderwerp, How EVs

Compare to Gas-Powered Vehicles in Seven Performance Metrics, C  D-

in areas of the country where electricity is produced with

natural gas, a nd run virtually carbon-free in area s where

renewable or nuclear energy is dominant. Even in regions

that depend heavily on coal for electricity generation, EVs

still have lower emissions than gas-powered cars.

e U.S. EV market, while growing rapidly, is not on

a trajectory to achieve the 96-billion-gallon cut in annual

gasoline use required to meet 2030 targets. EVs are a cen-

terpiece of federal and state strategies to reduce emissions

from light-duty vehicles burning gasoline.¹ e federal

government presently oers a at tax credit of $7,500 to

the buyers of certain EVs,¹¹ and the recently passed bipar-

tisan infrastructure bill wi ll dedicate $7.5 billion to EV

charg ing-site construction.¹² irteen state governments

oer EV incentives to encourage their residents to pur-

chase EVs.¹³

While the at-rate incentives have been eective in help-

ing EV models achieve a foothold in the market, they have

been relatively ineective in reducing gasoline consump-

tion and resulting vehicle emissions. is is because early

adopters of EVs tend to drive less than average drivers,¹

and the biggest consumers of gasoline have been slow to

ad opt E Vs.¹ As a result, the ga soline reduction achieved by

those switching to EVs has been disproportionately low in

relation to their share of the U.S. light-duty vehicle eet.

As the urgency to cut carbon emissions grows, the need to

maximize the gasoline reduction from each additional EV

 (May 15, 2021), https://www.caranddriver.com/features/g36420161/

evs-compared-gas-powered-vehicles-performance/.

7. Vanderwerp, supra note 6.

8. U.S. Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center, supra note 6.

9. See M M  ., C, G S 4-5 (2021),

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5888d6bad2b857a30238e864/t/60

036e15db6a1139195020/1627325296710/Coltura+Gasoline+Superusers+

Report+July+2021.pdf.

10. See Fact Sheet, e White House, supra note 3.

11. 26 U.S.C. §30D.

12. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Pub. L. No. 117-58, §11401, 135

Stat. 546 (2021).

13. Plug in America, State & Federal Incentives, https://pluginamerica.org/why-

go-plug-in/state-federal-incentives/ (last visited Dec. 17, 2021).

14. People Are Driving Electric Vehicles Less an Projected, U.C. D (Feb. 8,

2021), https://www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news/people-are-driving-electric-

vehicles-less-projected.

15. M  ., supra note 9.

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