The American President Joe Biden wants to promote the electrification of the American car fleet by decree, with stricter emissions regulations and huge subsidies.

From 2030 onwards, every second new car should have an emission-free drive.

A corresponding order is available.

"When I say electric cars are the future, I'm not joking," Biden announced on Twitter on Thursday morning.

The 50 percent quota includes vehicles with hybrid and fuel cell drives.

Winand von Petersdorff-Campen

Business correspondent in Washington.

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The White House also made Biden's strategic goal clear: it is not just about helping to combat the climate crisis, but also about competing with China in the auto industry. Transport is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.

The presidential decree is not binding, but is based on a voluntary agreement with industry.

This sparked criticism from environmentalists: "Voluntary commitments by the auto industry mean that New Year's resolutions will finally reduce how legally binding contracts work," noted Dan Becker from the Center for Biological Diversity.

The skepticism is no coincidence: the auto industry had reached a binding agreement with the Obama administration on emissions standards.

When Donald Trump was President, some producers torpedoed the compromise and enforced an easing.

Put old rules back into effect

Nonetheless, the government is relying on cooperation with the manufacturers: The three large American manufacturers General Motors, Ford and Stellantis with the Chrysler brand have committed themselves to the goal, but their opinion remains vague. You speak of a sales rate of 40 to 50 percent. They apparently expect Washington to subsidize production, research and development and secure the development of the charging infrastructure. If the 50 percent target also coincides with the production announcements made by the auto companies, it remains highly ambitious: Electric vehicles currently have a market share of 2 percent of new registrations in the United States.

The sales quota is flanked by new, stricter emission regulations for passenger cars, but also for the popular pick-up trucks and leisure cars, which are gaining ever larger market shares in the United States. Under Trump, at the insistence of parts of the industry, emissions standards from the Obama era were significantly relaxed. Biden wants to put the old rules back into force and tighten them again significantly from 2026.

The emissions rules had divided the industry; What role they will play in the future, however, is less clear after the leading manufacturers in America, including German producers, have already committed to relying on electric drives with extensive investment programs. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an industry lobbying organization, put investment commitments at $ 330 billion. General Motors recently announced the goal of ending sales of internal combustion engine cars by 2035.

The auto industry has well-founded hope that the government and Congress will accompany the shift towards electric cars with high subsidies. The infrastructure plan, on which senators from both parties have agreed and which is about to be voted on, reserves $ 7.5 billion for the construction of charging terminals across the country. The White House hopes that up to $ 100 billion in buying incentives can be loosened through an additional legislative package that could pass Congress by a simple majority without Republican support.

Both American and foreign manufacturers have made it clear in their own statements that buying incentives are the key to the plan to equip America's car fleet with electric drive. The market success of the largest electric car manufacturer, Tesla, was also greatly boosted by incentives to buy. Biden also wants to help American manufacturers in particular by converting the federal authorities' car fleet to electric drive.