This Washington Examiner story by a reporter who joined AEE’s EV press tour at the Washington Auto Show covers the market drivers and future of EVs in the U.S. and explains how automakers plan to produce them despite President Trump’s proposed fuel standards rollback. The piece notes EPA Administrator Wheeler's remarks at the show and includes perspective by AEE Managing Director Matt Stanberry. See excerpts below and the entire Washington Examiner story here. This story was also covered by E&E News here and the Houston Chronicle here.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler defended the Trump administration’s planned rollback of Obama-era fuel efficiency rules at the Washington Auto Show Thursday, as the world’s automakers showcased their plans to transition to electric vehicles.

“We want to strive for the right regulatory balance with realistic standards that save lives and continue to improve the environment,” Wheeler said.

As Wheeler predicted “we will go to court” with California over the state’s protest of EPA’s weaker fuel rules, automakers insisted regulations in the U.S. would have little bearing on their aggressive push into EVs... 

Matt Stanberry, managing director of the clean energy business group Advanced Energy Economy, told reporters EV sales for light duty vehicles grew 81 percent last year — from a low base — with 360,000 EVs sold in 2018, hitting 2 percent of the market for the first time. Since 2010, prices for lithium-ion batteries have fallen 80 percent, which will make EVs achieve cost parity with internal combustion vehicles by the mid- 2020s since batteries represent just less than half the cost of an EV... 

See the complete Washington Examiner story here.