The US government will announce an ambitious plan to “electrify” the auto industry on Wednesday, which will lead to a significant increase in the production of all-electric cars and trucks. Car companies say things are moving too fast, the offer is too radical and there will be massive cuts, writes the New York Times.

The influential EPA wants two-thirds of new cars sold in the US to be fully electric by 2032, up from just 5.8% last year.

The category “light passenger vehicles” refers to passenger cars such as sedans, hatchbacks or pickup trucks. In the medium-duty truck category, which includes vans, it is proposed that by 2032, 46% of vehicles sold will be fully electric.

Also in 2032, the proposal envisages that 50% of new buses sold will be electric, and 25% of heavy trucks will be electric. In heavy trucks, electricity is not even 2% of sales now.

The EPA cannot force manufacturers to produce a certain number of electric vehicles, but it can, through the Clean Air Act, set maximum pollution limits for the total number of vehicles sold by each company. The limits may be so tight that companies will only be able to meet them in the future by selling ever-increasing numbers of all-electric cars.

The EPA’s proposals have been frowned upon in the auto industry, with many saying they are pushing things and moving too quickly to an electric fleet. Also cited as an argument is that there are not enough charging stations, as well as the fact that the population does not want a quick transition to electric cars, especially because the autonomy is lower.

It should not be forgotten that Americans like big cars, cars that are not cheap at all in the electric version, especially since they have to have very large batteries for autonomy to be acceptable.

Companies also fear a problem that is widely discussed in Europe: electric cars have fewer components, fewer workers are needed, there will be layoffs and some factories will close.

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