If you love your car, good luck keeping it. Biden’s EV mandate is bringing about changes people don’t want.

In 2013, then-President Barack Obama earned “lie of the year” after repeatedly assuring Americans, “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.” »

This simply wasn’t true, and the rollout of Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) led to millions of people receiving cancellation notices. Government intrusion into the private health insurance market had major consequences, and many Americans were not happy about it.

More than 10 years later, President Joe Biden is causing major disruption in another major American industry: automobiles.

Unlike his former boss, Biden doesn’t even bother to promise Americans that if they love their car, they can keep it.

Biden, however, is also not being upfront with the public about what his new Environmental Protection Agency rule actually means.

The headline announcing the EPA mandate last month proclaims: “Biden-Harris Administration Finalizes Strongest Pollution Standards Ever for Cars, Empowering American Businesses and Workers to Lead the Future of Cars clean vehicles, protect public health, fight the climate crisis and save money for drivers. »

As with most bureaucratic gibberish, the meaning is far from clear. I’ll translate: if you like your current gas-powered car, SUV, or truck, so be it.

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What people want doesn’t fit Biden’s rules

The timing of this rule is no coincidence. This allows Biden to claim a “victory” on his promises to climate change advocates months before the presidential election.

And Biden needs all the help he can get.

Still, the broader implications — if drivers fully understand them — probably won’t win the president many fans.

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The final rule, which will take effect in earnest in 2027, requires automakers to rapidly increase their production of electric vehicles. By 2032, emissions standards require about 70% of new vehicle sales to be electric or battery-powered hybrids.

For comparison, electric vehicles accounted for just under 8% of new car sales last year.

If car manufacturers do not comply, they face hefty fines.

Although the EPA is not specifically calling for electric vehicles, the only way for automakers to meet the new goals is to significantly improve the technology.

It’s also worth noting that switching to electric batteries is not a panacea for the climate. Mining and processing these materials has harmful consequences – something Biden ignores.

“Mining lithium, copper, and all the materials contained therein has a huge environmental impact,” James Meigs, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and former editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics, told me. “So by the time the battery gets to your car, it’s already responsible for a huge amount of carbon emissions.”

This mandate also comes at a delicate time. Players in the automobile market are not rushing towards electric vehicles and sales are not meeting expectations.

Consumer interest in electric vehicles has declined for four straight months, and the public remains concerned about the lack of charging infrastructure, price and confusing tax credits. Even the relatively popular Teslas are in crisis.

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Negative headlines don’t help either.

When Chicago drivers couldn’t keep their electric vehicle batteries charged during a deep freeze earlier this year, it didn’t inspire confidence in those of us who live and drive in the Midwest.

Expect Trump to hammer Biden on EV mandate

Because we’re in a presidential campaign, expect to hear former President Donald Trump harping on the potential consequences of Biden’s EPA rule. In fact, Trump promised to cancel it.

“Joe Biden’s extreme electric vehicle mandate will force Americans to buy ultra-expensive cars they don’t want and can’t afford, while destroying the U.S. auto industry in the process,” the Trump campaign told Fox News last month. “This radical policy is anti-jobs, anti-consumer and anti-American.

I have to agree with Trump on this.

However, automakers are already preparing to meet stricter standards, spending billions in the process. Constant retooling to meet government-mandated targets presents its own challenges for the industry.

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There is no doubt that the impact on automakers will be enormous. But what bothers me most about this regulation is that Biden, through a regulatory executive order, is attempting to impose a sweeping change that most Americans do not yet fully understand and may not want .

Rather than going through Congress, where a full public debate could take place, Biden did so quietly by going through the rule-making process.

“It’s politically misleading, in a way that is all too typical of the Biden administration in many different areas,” says Meigs of the Manhattan Institute. “They chose to make major policy changes out of sight of the average voter. »

If Biden doesn’t want us to keep our expensive gas cars, then he should just say so. The American people deserve to know what a future with Biden at the wheel actually looks like.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques.

You can read various opinions from our committee of contributors and other authors on the front page of Opinion, on Twitter. @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Electric vehicle sales are down. But Biden still wants to force you to buy one