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When Joe Biden announced that two thirds of all cars sold in the US would have to be battery-powered by 2032, the President boasted that his plan would make electric cars cheaper, create well-paying jobs and cut emissions.
Yet in Detroit, nicknamed Motor City, manufacturers are worried. A rebellion against Biden’s plans has gathered pace in recent days, with a parade of major companies warning the policy is unrealistic.
Ford, one of the so-called “Detroit Three”, has warned that meeting the target is “outside the control of vehicle manufacturers” given their dependence on a significant increase in lithium supplies for batteries.
Another of the Detroit Three, Chrysler-owner Stellantis, said Biden’s plan “significantly underestimates the actions needed to build the targeted EV market.”
Its laundry list of concerns include “manufacturing capacity, battery production, charging infrastructure, and consumer acceptance of EVs.”
It is not just US carmakers who are concerned: some of the toughest criticism has come from Honda.
Part of Biden’s plan involves ramping up electric car sales to 50pc of the market by 2030. But the Japanese manufacturer has bristled at this target, complaining that the deadline is “barely one product design cycle away”.
The carmaker has also objected to the fact that the new rules effectively force car makers to go electric, unlike previous demands to reduce emissions that gave manufacturers leeway over how they met the goal.
Honda warned: “Should the market not pan out within the agency’s ambitious timeline – even for reasons entirely beyond an automaker’s control, such as a slower-than-expected rollout of public charging infrastructure that has a chilling effect on consumer interest in EVs – there is no safety net.”
Biden’s plans are also underpinned by a bet that battery prices will drop. There is no guarantee this will happen.
“The accuracy of this claim is perhaps the most important aspect of the entire proposed regulation,” Honda said.
These worries were mirrored by Hyundai, which said: “This is predicated on significant assumed reductions in battery pack pricing, which is far from guaranteed given uncertainties in mineral availability.”
Volkswagen and Toyota have also objected to the plans.
The US carmakers’ lobby, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, is calling for the White House to rein in its ambitions and instead set a sales target for EVs of 40-50pc by 2030
It has also urged the White House not to scrap chargeable hybrids as an alternative to fully electric cars.
Beyond industry, Biden’s plans also face political resistance. Earlier this month, a group of 25 Republicans demanded Biden abandon the policy.