The Electrical Automobile Industry Now Has its Own Lobbying Group

Tesla, Uber, Rivian, Lucid Motors, and others have teamed up to build a new electric vehicle Lobby group on Capitol Hill. The group, known as the Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA), states that its mission is to have 100 percent of new car sales are electric by 2030.

Just a while ago, California announced its plans to ban the sale of combustion-engine vehicles by 2035 whereas New Jersey has also said it is also interested in doing the same.

However, the emerging industry group will not push states to require their residents to buy EV’s alone, but rather support policies to encourage their sale.

One of the five missions identified in its announcement is “point-of-sale consumer incentives” or in other words, the group will probably push for the extension of the $7,500 federal tax credit for the purchase of new EVs and the tax credit were introduced under President Obama in 2009.

Moreover, Zero-Emission Transportation Association (ZETA) will also push for infrastructure improvements, such as Electric Vehicle charging stations, and emissions standards to help push more buyers to electric automobiles. The group supports policies that assist electric vehicle manufacturers to expand their business.

Furthermore, the ZETA will probably find it easier to move its agenda forward under President-elect Joe Biden than Donald Trump claimed to support electric cars on several occasions and his administration tried to end the federal EV tax credit in its 2020 budget proposal but was not successful.

Meanwhile, the group is comprised of established competitors like Tesla, and Uber; start-ups like Rivian, Lucid, and others while the U.S-based auto manufacturers inject billions of dollars into electrification plans but usually lobby lawmakers and administration officials through their own channels. But that may, however, go against the pressure for zero-emission transportation.