President Donald Trump says he'll end Democrats’ electric vehicle (EV) policies on day one if reelected.
During a June 10 rally in Atlanta, Trump derided a series of Democrat policies offering tax handouts and other incentives for relatively novel EVs.
“That certainly will be ending on day one,” Trump said to a round of applause from his supporters.
Since President Joe Biden took office, Democrats have put in place a series of policies offering tax incentives for buying electric vehicles, most prominently as part of the controversial $745 billion Inflation Reduction Act—the largest climate bill in U.S. history.
In addition, the administration has pushed EVs through the executive branch. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which sets emissions standards for new vehicles manufactured in the U.S., has proposed emissions standards that, if finalized, would require around two-thirds of new vehicles produced after 2030 to be electric.
“We built the greatest economy in the history of the world. We achieved energy independence, soon to be energy dominance, for the first time in 64 years, and gas prices were at $1.87 a gallon,” Trump said, contrasting his energy policy with that of Biden.
“We actually had them lower than that for a little while, but I had to get them up to appease the oil companies,” Trump joked. “They were going so low; they were getting killed.
“But now they want to give you all-electric cars. Isn’t that wonderful? So, does anybody want to drive for an hour and then wait four hours to get a recharge?” Trump asked, a reference to the time-consuming process of recharging an EV. The crowd responded with a collective groan.
Democrats have said that policies protecting and incentivizing EVs are crucial to protect the environment from what they call the “climate crisis.”
But Republicans have been critical of these policies, saying that, at best, they constitute a government handout for the wealthy—those who are the most likely to be able to afford the relatively new technology.
At worst, Republicans say, they’re a national security threat: this is because, in contrast to traditional cars, they require rare earth metals over which the Chinese Communist Party has a near monopoly.
Other concerns revolve around the strain that such a policy could put on the U.S. power grid, which is already dated and fragile in many areas. Critics say that mass adoption of EVs could push the grid past its limits.
