WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a bold move earning cheers from drivers across the country, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has announced plans to eliminate “start/stop” engine technology, a widely loathed feature that shuts off your car at every red light in the name of climate virtue signaling.
“Start/stop technology: where your car dies at every red light so companies get a climate participation trophy,” Zeldin quipped this week. “EPA approved it, and everyone hates it, so we’re fixing it.”
What Is Start/Stop and Why Is It Being Scrapped?
The feature, increasingly standard in modern vehicles, automatically cuts the engine when a car comes to a complete stop—at red lights, stop signs, or in heavy traffic—to conserve fuel and reduce emissions. While drivers can usually disable the feature manually, 65% of vehicles in 2023 came equipped with it, up from just 1% in 2012, according to Battery Council International.
Despite its intended environmental benefits—saving about 4–5% in fuel usage and cutting nearly 10 million tons of greenhouse gases annually—drivers have loudly protested the inconvenience and mechanical concerns:
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Annoying interruptions during driving
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Battery and starter wear concerns
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Lag when accelerating from a stop
Zeldin has now made it official: the EPA will no longer offer automakers regulatory incentives for including start/stop technology.
Zeldin’s EPA: People Over Participation Trophies
Unlike his climate-zealot predecessors, Zeldin has made common sense and consumer experience cornerstones of his EPA leadership. He emphasized that the move doesn’t ban innovation—but ends the subsidization of unpopular and impractical tech.
“We’re not against innovation—we’re against bureaucratic box-checking that punishes drivers and barely moves the needle on the climate.”
Environmentalists are predictably alarmed. But Zeldin’s approach speaks to a broader shift in federal policy under the Trump administration: ditching symbolic climate gestures in favor of efficiency, freedom of choice, and real-world results.
The Road Ahead
With this decision, Zeldin cements his position as a pro-consumer reformer, cutting red tape and putting drivers back in the driver’s seat. As the 2026 budget process unfolds, expect more shakeups at the EPA aimed at removing useless mandates and restoring freedom on the road.
Bottom line: Start/stop tech is stalling out—and Zeldin just gave it the final red light.
