The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its plan on Wednesday to meet President Trump's executive order on federal electric vehicle (EV) mandates, starting with reviews of several regulations passed by the previous administration. 

The EPA will reconsider the federal motor-vehicle emissions standards that require automakers and truck manufacturers to increase zero-emissions vehicle sales (known as the Model-Year 2027 and Later Light-Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles regulation and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles). Today, only EVs and five plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) meet these standards. 

The EPA will reconsider its March 2024 vehicle emissions regulation for model-years '27-'32, which effectively requires two out of three new vehicles sold to be EVs by 2032. The EPA will also reevaluate the 2022 Heavy-Duty Nitrous Oxide (NOx) rule, which was a centerpiece of the Biden Administration's Clean Truck Plan. 

California's EV mandate and internal combustion engine (ICE) ban—known as ACCII and currently impacting 11 other states—remains in place and is not affected by these EPA actions. Congress has until mid-April to overturn the federal waiver that enables the California mandates.  

• Learn more about the Congressional Review Act process here.

SEMA reacts: "SEMA thanks EPA Administrator Zeldin and President Trump for this bold action. SEMA has long advocated that government mandates, including those designed to support the sale of EVs and eliminate the sale of ICE vehicles, are the wrong approach to reducing motor vehicle emissions. The federal and state governments should take an 'all of the above' approach to vehicle technology, incentivize innovation, and allow the market to determine the best ways to reach improved emissions goals." 

Critical to note: The EPA action only impacts the EV mandates signed in 2023 and 2024. The March 10 EPA announcement is not a further rollback of emissions standards in place before the EV mandates implemented by the Biden Administration. None of President Trump's executive orders reverses existing laws that prohibit the use of defeat devices. A change to this policy would require separate legislative action by Congress and significant changes to the Federal Clean Air Act.