Biden's new policy will make new gas cars too expensive for most Americans

The Biden administration launched a new policy that will profoundly affect the vehicle industry and make it difficult for Americans to buy gas-powered vehicles soon.

The policy aims to ensure that by 2032, most new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the country are electric or hybrids.

The New York Times said the guidelines were one of the most significant climate regulations in the United States' history.

The regulation will force automakers to reduce emissions by placing increasingly tight tailpipe pollution limits on new vehicles or face significant fines.

In a statement, President Biden said, "Three years ago, I set an ambitious target: that half of all new cars and trucks sold in 2030 would be zero-emission."

Electric vehicles have been a central part of his environmental policy to reduce all US greenhouse gas emissions to half by 2030.

According to Fox News, industry leaders said the new regulation will "make new gas-powered vehicles unavailable or prohibitively expensive for most Americans."

Transportation is the largest source of carbon emissions in the US, so reducing that single source is vital to reducing contamination and combating climate change.

However, before Biden's regulation, electric and hybrid cars were not selling fast enough. According to The New York Times, they comprised less than a third of total sales.

The new regulation allows the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to limit the pollution generated by the total number of cars sold yearly.

The limits will affect new passenger cars, light trucks, and larger pickups and vans beginning with model year 2027 vehicles and will keep growing until 2032.

The regulation is not set in stone, and automakers' alliances and the energy industry are expected to challenge it, as they have done with similar policies.

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"They may wish for us all to drive EVs, "Elizabeth Murrill, the attorney general of Louisiana, said in a statement collected by The New York Times, "but at the end of the day, that's not their decision."