What We’re Reading

• Tesla Confirms Automated Driving Systems Were Engaged During Fatal Crash (Jalopnik, April 18, 2023)

  Tesla has advised investigators that Autopilot was engaged at the time of a fatal crash earlier this year involving a Tesla Model S and a first responder vehicle. The widely reported accident occurred during the early morning hours of February 18, 2023 when the Model S crashed into the back of a firetruck on I-680 in Northern California. The firetruck was heavily damaged, and the Tesla, whose driver was pronounced dead at the scene, had to be cut open using a Jaws of Life.

  According to Bloomberg, this marked the seventeenth reported fatality involving a Tesla where ADAS was engaged at the time of the accident since NHTSA began requiring reporting of such incidents in June 2021, and was one of 66 reported accidents from all reporting OEMs referenced in the most recent public release of data collected by NHTSA. 

  NHTSA’s investigation into the high incidence of Tesla/first responder vehicle collisions remains ongoing. NHTSA also continues to investigate several aspects of Tesla’s Full-Self Driving beta and Autopilot, as well as tweets by CEO Elon Musk that suggest FSD could be upgraded so as to disable an alert when drivers take their hands off the wheel.

• EPA proposed new tailpipe rules that could push EVs to make up two-thirds of new car sales in US by 2032 (CNN Politics, April 12, 2023)

  The Environmental Protection Agency proposed new car pollution rules last week that would elevate electric car mandates in states like California and New York to the federal level. If approved, the EPA rule would “require electric vehicles to account for up to two-thirds of new cars sold in the US by 2032.” The requirements would apply starting in model year 2027, and would likely significantly accelerate EV adoption rates in the US.

  EPA Administrator Michael Regan touted the proposed rules for their expected cost and environmental benefits to the public. Thomas Boylan, former EPA official and regulatory director at the Zero Emission Transportation Association, added that the proposal “is really going to set the tone for the rest of the decade and into the 2030s in terms of what this administration is looking for the auto industry to do when it comes to decarbonizing and ultimately electrifying.”

  But while government administrations and industry groups continue to push EV adoption, a new Gallup poll suggests Americans are not yet sold, with 41% of respondents indicating they would not buy an EV. Responding to this hesitation, Boylan noted that recent tax credits should act as a carrot while the proposed rules would offer a stick to encourage purchases.

  The docket, associated documents, and comments for the proposed rule can be accessed here.

• Some electric vehicles from BMW, Nissan, Hyundai and Volkswagen will no longer get federal tax credits (CNBC, April 18, 2023)

  Earlier this year, a loophole emerged in implementation of The Inflation Reduction Act, as the Treasury Department delayed issuing guidance on the so-called “battery rule,” creating a window of eligibility for many EV manufacturers that were not eligible for federal tax credits at the end of 2022, having already sold more than 200,000 EVs at that time.

  Last week, Treasury closed the loophole in announcing “stricter rules for battery sources that will prioritize domestically manufactured models.” Some vehicles will continue to qualify for the full $7500 credit (including models manufactured by Tesla, Ford, GM, and Stellantis) while others will only qualify for half that amount or no credit at all (including models from BMW, Hyundai, Nissan, Rivian, Volkswagen, and Volvo).  To qualify for the tax credit, the vehicle must have been made in North American and a certain percentage of its battery materials and the value of its battery components must be domestically extracted, process, recycled, or manufactured.

  As this article notes, the new tax incentive rules “may undercut the Biden administration’s proposed tailpipe emissions limits [discussed immediately above], which could require as many as 67% of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2032 to be all-electric—the country’s most ambitious climate regulation yet.”