SWLA car dealer joins lawsuit against EPA over electric car requirements

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) – The American Petroleum Institute, corn growers, and others, including a group of auto dealers, are suing the Environmental Protection Agency over electric cars.

The EPA is aiming to require up to two-thirds of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2032 in an effort to reduce pollutant emissions.

Even those who love the idea of electric cars may worry about being stranded if they cannot get a charge when they need one, especially if it’s hurricane season.

Phillip Tarver, a Lake Area dealership owner and Republican state representative, is among those suing.

“You don’t have enough charging facilities. You don’t have battery capacities that can last the duration the way people live their lives and depend on their vehicles. One of the questions I get from our community is what are we going to do when we have these electric vehicles, and we have to evacuate for a hurricane? How we going to get out of town if our batteries are not fully charged and how are we going to get 200 miles away?” Tarver said.

Tarver said he believes part of the solution is more hybrid cars.

The suit says the EPA has gone beyond its authority. Tarver asked why the EPA should decide what products consumers use instead of the market.

“The government, this bureaucracy, has made its own mind up that this is the way it ought to be. And this is not a practical way for the government to say how our economy should be run,” he said.

Still, the EPA says electric cars could save billions of dollars in fuel costs and reduce greenhouse gases by up to 320 metric tons per year.

The EPA’s proposed reduced vehicle emission standards would apply to model years 2027 through 2032.

We are still waiting for a response from the EPA. You can view the lawsuit here.

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