Tesla, along with other electric car manufacturers and environmental organizations, has encouraged the Biden administration to invest in charging infrastructure for electric buses, trucks, and another medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.
According to a letter sent this week to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the groups want the administration to allocate 10% of the money for electric vehicle charging in the bipartisan infrastructure bill signed last November — a pot that includes $7.5 billion — to infrastructure for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.
The majority of cars on the road are passenger vehicles. However, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles account for a disproportionate share of smog-causing pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. Electrifying that group of vehicles, then, might eliminate a larger portion of pollutants while also improving air quality and mitigating climate change. According to the letter, the United States requires a charging infrastructure to make this happen.
Already, the Biden administration has prioritized truck pollution: the Department of Transportation is subsidizing electric transit buses for state and local governments, and the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a new regulation mandating new trucks to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 90% by 2031.
