It’s a very different picture in the US, where the economic case for EVs without subsidies is weaker, he added, because gas is “extraordinarily cheap” and Americans prefer “absolutely massive vehicles.”
That preference may be true to some degree, but at least some of it is due to federal regulation, which as-structured creates an incentive to sell larger vehicles.
Since 2012, manufacturers have faced GHG emissions requirements that depend on the mix of vehicles sold; a manufacturer that sells larger vehicles and light trucks rather than cars faces less stringent requirements for GHG emissions. This regulatory structure incentivizes manufacturers to shift their product offerings to avoid strict GHG requirements, which potentially increases emissions.
Since the adoption of size-based standards in 2012, new vehicles have been getting larger, and sales have shifted from cars to light trucks. Between 2011 and 2022, the average vehicle footprint (roughly, the area defined by the four wheels) increased by about 4 percent, and the share of cars in total sales dropped from about 65 percent to 40 percent. In the GHG standards that EPA proposed in April this year, the agency notes that the increasing size and shift from cars to trucks has increased average emissions rates by about 10 percent.
EPA regulations require a vehicle with X emissions to be relatively X size – the size is relative to emissions.
This means that to meet modern American emissions standards, for a vehicle to get the kind of gas mileage a pickup should get while still being useful, it needs to be huge to fit in the emissions bracket. The only way around this is to have a hybrid or have an electric vehicle, but even then, it is incredibly hard to fit within these regulations, which get tighter every period especially while still being remotely “affordable.”
That preference may be true to some degree, but at least some of it is due to federal regulation, which as-structured creates an incentive to sell larger vehicles.
https://www.resources.org/common-resources/how-much-do-regulations-for-fuel-economy-and-emissions-incentivize-the-production-of-larger-vehicles/
https://old.reddit.com/r/Trucks/comments/17tytz6/the_reason_why_modern_light_pickup_trucks_are/