The US government on Wednesday introduced stricter standards on vehicle emissions, a measure that aims to make 67% of cars sold in the country electric by 2032.

This goal exceeds the ambitions revealed by President Joe Biden two years ago, which aspired to have half of the cars sold in the United States by 2030 free of emissions, that is, electric cars, plug-in hybrids or hydrogen cars.

This time, the administration did not specify an exact quota for clean cars to be sold.

But the EPA plans to gradually cap the average amount of polluting emissions from new cars produced by each manufacturer, encouraging it in the process to add more electric cars to its fleet.

These new standards "could save us nearly 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions (by 2055), more than double the total US carbon dioxide emissions in 2022," the EPA said in a statement. .

The new standards represent "an essential step on the road to reducing our country's largest source of carbon pollution and providing cleaner air and a safer climate," Manish Babna, head of the NRDC environmental organization, said in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse.

"If properly implemented," he added, these measures would also reduce oil imports and motorists' fuel expenditures.

The EPA estimates that savings from the new standards will outweigh costs by at least $1,000 billion.

It will be left to the car manufacturers to choose which technologies to adopt to reduce their emissions.

In the past, manufacturers reduced the size of their vehicles or improved the efficiency of their engines. And companies will be able to use new particulate filters.

But since many manufacturers have already embarked on the path of transition to electric vehicles, the agency is counting above all on accelerating this movement.

It calculates that, with the new standards, electric cars could account for 67% of sales of light vehicles (city cars, sedans, SUVs, and pickups) in 2032, 50% of sales of buses and garbage trucks, and 35% of pickup trucks. domestic and 25% of long-distance transport trucks.

The situation is not easy for manufacturers: Despite the significant increase in the past two years, sales of fully electric cars in the United States accounted for only 5.8% of cars sold in 2022, according to Cox Automotive.

The White House climate advisor, Ali Zaidi, indicated during a press conference that expectations on this issue are subject to constant review with technological progress.

In addition to the many public aid aimed at boosting the emergence of the electric car since Joe Biden took office, the private sector has invested $120 billion in manufacturing electric cars and batteries, according to Zaidi, who said it is sufficient to monitor "what is being made and at what speed."

Arthur Wheaton, a specialist in the automotive sector at Cornell University, said that these ambitions collide with three main challenges that must be overcome.

Manufacturers continue to face problems in their supply chain.

The startups, Rivian and Lucid, for example, failed to meet their production targets.

For industry giants, transforming the entire production system, from building battery factories to retrofitting assembly lines, takes time. Electric cars still make up only a small part of General Motors and Ford sales, and they cost them a lot of money.

Manufacturers must also adapt to "limited raw materials" such as lithium, according to Wheaton.

But it is important for the expert that the government shows high ambitions, as this allows "the same rules to apply to all manufacturers."

Even if only 85% of the targets are met, "the path to transforming the production system and supply chain is at least underway."