Contacts:

• Jim Lynch
• Jim Erickson
• Kate McAlpine

EXPERTS ADVISORY

The Biden Administration has issued new limits on vehicle emissions designed to speed the adoption of electric vehicles. University of Michigan experts, including Liesl Eichler Clark and Gregory Keoleian from the School for Environment and Sustainability, are available to discuss the significance of the new guidelines.

Liesl Eichler Clark of the School for Environment and Sustainability is U-M’s first director of climate action engagement. She leads an initiative aimed at linking the university’s expanding sustainability research, collaborations and engagement with external partners to accelerate climate action across the state of Michigan and beyond.

Previously, Clark served as director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. She is an entrepreneur in the clean energy and sustainability space and co-founded the clean energy consulting firm 5 Lakes Energy. She was instrumental in the creation of the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council and served as its president for three years.

“Policy matters. When you look at the U.S., the highest number of EVs on the road is where the policy structure favors that outcome,” Clark said. “We must transition our mobility as fast as possible, and these rules set the market structure for that to happen.

“Like other parts of the energy transition, EVs are cheaper over the lifetime of the vehicle, and frankly a fantastic ride. Vehicles powered by internal-combustion engines aren’t disappearing tomorrow, they will be part of the fleet for some time. But this is the right step at the right time.”

Contact: [email protected]

Greg Keoleian, professor of environment and sustainability, is co-director of the Center for Sustainable Systems and co-director of MI Hydrogen, U-M’s hydrogen initiative. He has led more than 100 research studies, analyzing life-cycle energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and the costs of conventional and alternative vehicle technology, renewable energy technologies, buildings and infrastructure, consumer products and packaging, and a variety of food systems.

“The new EPA rules are critical to accelerate the transition from internal combustion engine vehicles to battery electric vehicles and to reduce automobile greenhouse gas emissions,” Keoleian said. “We have compared the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of ICEVs and BEVs, and the benefits of electric vehicles are dramatic.

“Cars and light duty trucks (SUVs, vans, pickup trucks) are responsible for about 17% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. is not on track to meet Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions necessary to avoid the most adverse impacts of climate change.

“The new rules should help close the gaps toward meeting U.S. vehicle electrification goals to increase new electric vehicle sales to 50% by 2030, and the U.S. economy-wide decarbonization goals to cut emissions in half by 2030 relative to 2005.”

Related study: Decarbonization potential of electrifying 50% of U.S. light-duty vehicle sales by 2030

Contact: [email protected]

Read the full experts advisory on the Michigan News website.