In an effort to advance “America’s Clean Transportation Future,” the Biden Administration has revamped federal guidelines for traveling federal employees, now requiring that, when affordable compared to the other options, they use EV options and rail or public transit options.
Explaining those changes in the statement, the Biden Administration said that federal employees will not have to rent EVs when traveling under certain circumstances, use EV options on rideshare apps, and travel by rail and public transit.
Explaining the EV mandate, it said, “Prioritizing electric vehicle use when traveling: Federal employees will rent an EV on official travel when the cost of the EV is less than or equal to the most affordable comparable vehicle available. Employees will also opt for cost-competitive EV options, where available, when using taxis and ride share platforms. This will save taxpayer money and reduce pollution that jeopardizes people’s health and fuels the climate crisis.”
It added, “Expanding rail travel: Federal employees will use rail for trips less than 250 miles when cost-effective and available, instead of taking an airplane or vehicle” and “Increasing public transit use: Federal employees will use public transit (e.g., subway, bus, light rail) when conducting local travel or upon arrival at the official travel location.”
Those changes are likely to be quite substantial, as the statement noted that the federal government spends billions on travel every year and rents millions of vehicles, saying, “As the Nation’s largest employer and with an annual business travel purchasing power of $2.8 billion, the Federal Government is leading by example by shifting to cleaner transportation options, including American-made electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. In 2022 alone, Federal employees took more than 2.8 million flights, 2.3 million vehicle rentals, and 33,000 rail trips. These operational changes will accelerate the clean transportation transformation, increase good-paying union jobs and create healthier communities.”
The statement also said that the travel changes are coming as part of an effort to expand electric vehicle fleets, saying, “These new commitments will save taxpayers money by increasing the use of EVs and taking other cost-effective actions on clean transportation associated with business travel for the Federal workforce. In addition, the State of California, companies, and nonprofits are announcing new commitments through the Biden-Harris Administration’s EV Acceleration Challenge to expand EV fleets, increase consumer education, and grow the availability of EV charging and other clean transportation infrastructure.”
President Biden, speaking about “clean energy development” last month, said, “We’re transforming clean energy development that’s [creating] good-paying jobs, including union jobs, in all of America. We’ve already attracted over half a tri- — we’ve attracted half a trillion dollars — a half of trillion dollars in private sector investment for my Investing in America agenda in clean energy and advanced manufacturing.” He added, “We’re just getting — and we’re just getting started. And we really are. We’re just getting started.”
Though the Biden Administration has been pushing through regulations designed to encourage automakers to focus on EV production, consumers are getting less interested in the vehicles as their flaws become more obvious, leading some large automakers like Ford to hold off on investing in EV infrastructure for now.
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