The US Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program may be advantageous for electric vehicles, as per Reuters. It seems that in order to integrate EVs and charging stations into the plan, the Biden administration has been collaborating with Tesla’s officials.
The White House’s collaboration with Tesla demonstrates that the Biden team attempted early on to include the automaker in one of its core policy objectives, despite a public vendetta between Biden and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Since 2005, the RFS has required fuel marketed in the US to encompass a minimum amount of renewable fuels. It has primarily been ethanol made from corn, according to CleanTechnica.
However, it appears that the possibility of permitting EV automakers to produce electric Renewable Identification Numbers (eRINs) is now being considered.
“Tesla is seeking changes to the RFS that will allow it to earn renewable fuel credits [eRINs] based on kilowatt hours driven or similar metrics, according to two sources familiar with the plan,” Reuters reports.
“The administration’s early and extensive outreach reflects that expanding the scope of the US Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to make it a tool for electrifying the nation’s automobile fleet is one of Biden’s priorities in the fight against climate change.”
Notably, the RFS has already caused conflict between the oil and corn industries. Things will only become more heated if the car lobby is included.
To think of it, should not considerably cleaner and greener electric vehicles qualify for subsidies if corn ethanol has?
“We have heard through the grapevine that car companies are really, really going to like this rule,” said Maureen Walsh, director of federal policy with the American Biogas Council, during a conference in May.
The eRINs might be a strategy to lower the price of an EV since transportation contributes 25% of US greenhouse gas emissions. It can therefore hasten the sector’s transition to decarbonization.
Reuters reports that “The EPA said it was consulting ‘all interested stakeholders’ in its RFS policy review.” By the end of the month, President Joe Biden is expected to receive the proposal.
Environmental action has started to concentrate even more on renewable energy as people become more knowledgeable of the negative repercussions of using fossil fuels. Notably, renewable energy offers a substitute for fuels derived from petroleum and has a lower carbon footprint.
