It is no business of the state to steer drivers from one automotive technology to another. But if the U.S. government should decide to do this, it should do so through Congress, not a regulatory agency. Where climate policy is involved, though, individual autonomy and popular consent have a way of being overridden. In April 2023, the EPA proposed a set of rules designed to ensure that, depending on which “compliance pathway” — a phrase redolent of a bureaucracy run amok — auto manufacturers took, electric vehicles (EVs) would account for as much as 67 percent of new light vehicle sales by 2032.
