The EPA’s proposal for stricter vehicle emission limits has the potential to boost electric vehicle sales, projecting that 67% of new passenger vehicles and light trucks sales could be electric by 2032. However, no projections were made regarding hydrogen car sales.

New proposed rules are expected to be a boon for electric vehicles, according to the EPA.

Part of US President Biden’s battle against climate change includes a proposal for strict auto emissions limits that have the potential to boost electric vehicle sales, but what about hydrogen cars?

The Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed two new sets of vehicle emissions limits.

According to data released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the new and more aggressive vehicle emission limits could considerably boost the sale of electric vehicles. It projects that 67 percent of new passenger vehicle and light duty truck sales could be electric by 2032.

That said, no projections were made regarding hydrogen cars. It has yet to be known whether tightening auto emission limits will be helpful for this category of zero-emission vehicles or whether it will only further hinder their adoption across the United States.

Hydrogen cars have had an exceptionally slow start in the United States.

The adoption of H2 passenger vehicles In the US has been exacerbated by the lack of refueling structure.

Could requiring automakers to move more quickly on introducing and selling zero-emission vehicles push them to have to choose battery electric vehicles (EVs) simply to comply and offer consumers an option where a refueling infrastructure is already in place? Could this happen even among automakers that had intentions to develop H2 vehicles to roll out if and when an H2 refueling infrastructure grows in the US?

Most aggressive auto emissions restriction in US history

The proposed regulations represent the most aggressive limits on emissions the US auto industry has ever experienced. That said, the goal is to help the Biden administration meet its climate targets.

The EPA’s proposed restrictions are substantial enough that it would eliminate the equivalent of two

years’ worth of the country’s total carbon dioxide emissions, said a Washington Post report. These proposals would require automakers to reduce passenger car and pickup truck emissions by model year 2032 by over half of 2026, which is the last model year restricted by the regulations currently in place.

Will this push hydrogen cars forward, or will this new scramble cause automakers to turn away from H2 in favor of the EVs that are already becoming quite mainstream?