For months, Donald Trump has scorned electric cars, claiming that their supporters should “rot in hell” and that supporting the startup industry is “madness.” Now, with the backing of the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, Trump’s views appear to have shifted somewhat.
“I support electric vehicles, and I have to because Elon has strongly supported me,” Republican presidential candidate Trump told supporters at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday.
But the transactional nature of the relationship with Musk was made clear by the former president and convicted business fraudster. “So I have no choice,” Trump said, adding that electric cars are suitable for a “very small percentage” of the population and that he wanted “every kind of car you can think of” available.
Trump also claimed $9 trillion would be needed to build a network of electric vehicle chargers, a figure not cited by the industry or the White House. President Joe Biden’s administration has pledged to build 500,000 chargers, far fewer than the roughly 28 million required. needbillions of dollars have been secured, but construction progress has been pathetic. slow.
Musk, the Tesla CEO, has taken an increasingly hardline stance. Right-wing views as owner of Twitter/XMusk has supported Trump’s return to the White House despite Trump’s repeated opposition to electric cars during the campaign. Last month, he denied reports that he planned to donate $45 million a month to a super PAC working to elect Trump, and refused to disclose how much he planned to donate.
Trump warned that his push for electric vehicles would be a “catastrophe” for the U.S. auto industry, falsely claiming that battery-powered cars don’t work in cold weather or have long ranges. “You won’t be able to sell Mexican-made electric cars in the U.S. market,” he warned.
Trump said the new administration will “immediately end Joe Biden’s insane electric vehicle mandate.” While there is no such mandate, Biden has overseen tougher auto pollution rules that should help make EVs more attractive and has signed legislation offering tax rebates to new EV buyers.
More than 1 million electric vehicles were sold in the United States for the first time last year, and analysts expect sales to grow further this year, approaching a tipping point where the end of government support for electric vehicles will not slow sales growth.
But several barriers remain, including the relatively high cost of electric vehicles compared with gasoline and diesel cars, a shortage of chargers and supply chain bottlenecks.Environmental activists, who point out that transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and a central focus of deadly air pollution, argue that more needs to be done to move Americans away from gas-guzzling cars, or even away from cars altogether.
After newsletter promotion
“The signs are clear: Around the world, the future of personal transportation is electric, no matter what the United States decides,” Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator who owns two Chevy Bolts, said last week.
“It’s great. It’s quieter, it’s faster, it’s more fun to drive, it doesn’t stink up the highway or neighboring neighborhoods, and it costs almost nothing to repair or maintain.”
