Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said that she supports electrifying the Department of Defense’s (DOD) non-tactical vehicle fleet by 2030, during an exchange with Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, at a Wednesday hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Ernst began questioning Granholm about whether China was a reliable partner for “achieving and stabilizing U.S. energy independence and security,” noting that the Senate had rejected a Biden-proposed plan to electrify the DOD’s non-tactical vehicle fleet by 2030 in part because it would increase the military’s dependence on China. Granholm responded that the president’s “invest in America agenda” would move the supply chain to the U.S., and following a brief aside, Ernst pressed Granholm about the timeline for electrifying the military’s fleet of non-tactical vehicles, such as cars, vans and light-duty trucks. (RELATED: Biden’s Energy Sec Denies The Admin Is Trying To Ban Gas Cars Despite Regulatory Onslaught)
“I believe the [Biden administration’s] proposed swapping of the military’s non-tactical vehicles for an all-electric fleet, again by 2030, really is putting the climate crusade ahead of our department’s lethality, we need to support that first,” said Ernst. “So, do you support the military adopting that EV fleet by 2030?”
“I do, and I think we can get there as well,” Granholm responded. “And I do think that reducing our reliance on the volatility of globally traded fossil fuels, where we know that global events such as the war in Ukraine can jack up prices for people back home, it does not contribute to energy security. I think energy security is achieved when we have home-grown, clean energy that is abundant, like you see in Iowa, we think that we can be a leader globally in how we have become energy independent.”
President Joe Biden drained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to its lowest level since 1983, in a bid to push down prices at the pump following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Granholm said in a March hearing that the process to refill the reserve could take years.
Senate Democrats last June introduced a bill that would require at least 75% of all non-tactical vehicles purchased or leased by the military be all-electric or zero- emission vehicles made in America. At the time, the military operated a fleet of roughly 140,000 non-tactical vehicles, according to an accompanying press release.
The U.S. Army is currently committed to electrifying its light-duty non-tactical vehicle fleet by 2027, with hybrids bridging the gap to full electrification by 2035, according to the Army’s 2022 Climate Strategy. The Army is also seeking to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% from 2005 levels by 2030, and hit net-zero emissions by 2050.
Biden has committed the U.S. to the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, and boosting the sales of electric vehicles has been a core aspect of both his energy and climate policies. Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released a set of proposed tailpipe emissions rules that the agency projects will boost electric car sales by two-thirds by 2030.
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