Biden's executive order will make half of new U.S. vehicles electric by 2030: 'We have got to act'

President Joe Biden signed an executive order targeting half of U.S. automotive sales to be electric vehicles by 2030.

In a further effort to tackle the climate crisis and reduce pollution by 2026, the Biden administration will be imposing stronger new vehicle emission standards as early as 2023 models, as proposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), or by 2024, as suggested by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

"We have got to act," U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a CNBC interview. "This goal of getting half of our new vehicles to be electric within the decade is going to be urgently needed for us to meet the imperative of climate in our time."

Biden's 50% goal and the automakers' aspiration of 40 to 50% includes battery electric, fuel cell and plug-in hybrid vehicles that also have a gasoline engine, according to Reuters.

The president’s newest executive order, which was signed Aug. 5, also introduces a plan for developing new emissions standards through at least 2030 for light-duty vehicles and as early as 2027 for larger vehicles. Biden has repeatedly declined the proposal by progressives to create a binding requirement for EV adoption, according to Reuters.

Biden’s signed executive order also requires agencies to collaborate with the secretaries of commerce, labor and energy “on ways to accelerate innovation and manufacturing in the automotive sector, to strengthen the domestic supply chain for that sector and to grow jobs that provide good pay and benefits,” according to the White House Briefing Room.