in our Spotlight on Business Report tonight President Biden makes his biggest move yet on the climate the White House today set the nation's strictest rules yet on vehicle emissions requiring gasoline powered models to slash pollutants and carbon dioxide contributing to the planet's warming it'll also push the Auto industry to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles but unlike last year's proposal that won't need to happen until after 2030 the new Environmental Protection Agency rule comes after a year of intense lobbying between the Biden Administration and labor unions and it'll likely face legal challenges for more details I'm joined by Doug O’Malley he's the president of charge EVC an electric vehicle Coalition Dougal good to have you on the show so correct me if I'm wrong this is a less aggressive plan than the president uh had originally put out but does it still achieve the same goals when it comes to cutting emissions yeah so this this plan that President Biden and his administration announced today in Washington will be the single most significant uh regulation in history to reduce climate pollutants it will take a little longer to ramp up but it's going to get to the right place at the end of the day and that's uh and that's really critical because we're at a moment right now of an inflection point where across the country we need to be getting more drivers behind uh the wheels of electric vehicles what does does it apply to though um because there are some stipulations around not just uh all electric vehicles but also some car outs for hybrid and plugins can you explain that yeah so I mean I think it's important to kind of know that the transition to electric vehicles is going to be multifaceted so obviously your pure battery electric vehicle those are the ones that have the best bang for the buck for consumers to save the most amount of money and get just the pure Driving Experience of an electric vehicle that being said you know some people are can prefer the plug-in hybrid um those plug-in hybrids will be part of this regulation they're they're part of New Jersey's clean car standards and uh for those for those drivers that are really worried about range anxiety that's a good middle ground so you know this this regulation that EPA is is moving forward on um really uh you know is doing the right thing for the climate it's doing the right thing for air pollution and it's providing the path forward to accelerate electric vehicles all across the country not just in New Jersey but it's not as some states are doing including uh what New Jersey is looking at mandating that auto manufacturers stop the production of gas powerered vehicles yes it is uh working around that a bit more that's right and so this is important to know that New Jersey for two decades has been stronger than what the federal government has Acquired and 40% of the otter Market is now in States just like New Jersey that have strong clean car standards but we need to make sure that we're raising the floor and if you're in Texas or Pennsylvania or Alabama you too um should have the option to have an electric vehicle and this regulation as it stands will actually save drivers $66,000 a year with uh you know decreased maintenance cost so this is a reminder that electric vehicles aren't for the future anymore they're here um but we want to make sure that they are more accessible and available for more consumers across the country how many uh more electric vehicles do we expect to have on the road by 2030 um because of this Rule and how much emissions do we expect to be cut yeah so this is why this rule is so significant and the rule does a ramp up a little more slowly this decade and has a steep ramp up after 2030 but by 2032 more than half the new cars sold in the United States would most likely be zero emissions vehicles in order to meet the standards and that has a huge climate benefit that would save more than 7 billion tons of carbon dioxide over the next 30 years that's the equivalent of removing a year of greenhouse gases in this country so when we talk about the climate crisis being real these are the kind of actions that we need to take dougo Ali is the director of environment New Jersey and the president of charge EVC in New Jersey Doug O’Malley hanks so much thanks so much Briana support for the business report provided by the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce announcing its re New Jersey business Summit and Expo March 26th and 27th at Harris in Atlantic City event details online at NJ chamber.com [Music]