Felicity Wilkinson

Economics 201
05/18/2019

Assignment 2

A recent article written by Elektrek author, Fred Lambert, titled “Automakers claiming to
be ‘all-in on electric cars’ are still lobbying against stricter fuel standards”
(​https://electrek.co/2017/10/09/automakers-all-electric-cars-lobbying-fuel-standards/?fbclid=Iw
AR3WVjgSm5TxZN0NnhaUFMOuorh9izNv65D3w7S3aOh8Mjq_iZJ-jhhPQmY​) explains to
us using relevant ideas that major automakers are contradicting themselves by publicly
announcing that they want and believe that electric cars are the future of the auto industry, but
that they are also lobbying behind the scenes against the fuel emission standards. The article
states:

“The Global Automakers group, which represents Nissan, Toyota, Hyundai and
many other automakers, wrote in the comments to the EPA:

‘There is, simply put, a misalignment between the increasing stringency of the
standards and the decreasing consumer demand for fuel efficiency,’

Yet, the group claims to ‘support and are aggressively pursuing innovative ways
to reduce CO2 emissions to protect the environment […].’”

Essentially, numerous automakers insist that they are in favor of electric cars but yet,
they “lobby against rules that would accelerate the deployment of electric cars,” as the
author of the Electrek article, Fred Lambert, states.

Under the Obama Administration, automakers were required to have their new
automobile fleets to an average of 36 mpg by the year 2025,​ ​thanks to a regulation
made by the Environmental Protection Agency. This idea is that competition and
innovation drives the market. Doing this would be beneficial to the environment, and
the automakers agreed to this standard back in 2012. Now, President Trump wants to
freeze, or cap, these standards in 2021 because this would make cars more affordable
and get these safer cars to people quicker. This decision was made due to the
automakers and lobbyists sending countless letters to President Trump trying to get him
to change the rules to be in their favor.

At the end of the article, the author gives his point of view on the topic. Included in this,
it says that General Motors announced that they ‘believe in an all-electric future​’ and yet they are
lobbying and working with the auto-industry to delay this idealistic future. The author then
states, “​Can we afford any delay with air pollution being linked to ​millions of death​ every year?”
This contentious matter is less about the economy, profit margins, and such, and more about the
morality of carbon emissions and combating climate change. Having such fuel emission
standards and electric cars will limit the amount of CO2 radiations to preserve the environment.
It will also provide much ​cleaner, safer, and more energy-efficient cars.