NPR: “The EPA Proposes Gutting Its Greenhouse Gas Rules. Here’s What It Means for Cars and Pollution.”
Insights from RFF Fellow Joshua Linn and quotes from Fellow Beia Spiller are included in this story.
“As for consumers, Beia Spiller, an economist and a fellow at Resources for the Future, a nonpartisan think tank, points out that drivers like having more efficient cars. ‘People would prefer to have a vehicle that costs them less to operate,’ she says. But, she says, research shows that new car buyers focus more on up-front prices (especially now, when those prices are so high) and under-value their future fuel savings.
That means market forces alone won't push cars to get clean as fast as regulations. So the rollback, in addition to increasing emissions, would also increase long-term fuel costs for drivers.
But, she says, it also wouldn't send the market into an immediate U-turn toward gas guzzlers. Automakers have made major investments in cleaner car technologies. Some of those investments might be reversed, and just written off as lost money; others might be carried forward. Even as EV sales flag, she says, hybrids, in particular, are likely to stay strong.”
