How Biden’s E.V. Plan Could Help Tesla and Squeeze Toyota

A push to increase sales of electric vehicles favors companies that already have all-electric cars on the market and could penalize those that don’t.

The Biden administration’s vow on Thursday to push sales of electric vehicles to 50 percent of new car purchases by 2030 means that there’s no place left to hide for any carmaker resisting the shift to battery power. Europe and China were already heavily promoting electric vehicles using regulations, incentives for consumers, and subsidies for carmakers and battery producers. President Biden’s commitment to follow a similar strategy means that the world’s three largest car markets are moving away from internal combustion at a faster pace than anyone predicted a few years ago. “This is the last major piece in the jigsaw,” said Peter Wells, director of the Center for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff Business School in Wales. “This does put pressure on some of the more laggardly companies.”