Summary
The Trump transition team plans to dismantle key support for the US electric vehicle (EV) market by eliminating the $7,500 federal EV tax credit and diverting funds from EV charging stations to securing battery materials as a “national-defense issue.”
This marks a major shift from Biden’s policies, which prioritized rapid EV adoption and a domestic battery supply chain.
The plan includes imposing tariffs on battery parts and materials globally, with possible exemptions for allies.
These changes are expected to slow US EV growth, further widening the gap with Europe and China.
Except for one brand, I’ll wager.
You know, as a kid I thought the bad guys in Captain Planet were a bit silly and over the top. How wrong I was…
I want the Don Cheadle Captain Planet to manifest in this reality.
Trump would make the best tree. He’d be 'UGE! Lots of people are saying it, the best people.
Nah. He’d be one of those trees that smells like a rotting corpse and he’d probably be on the smaller side.
Either way a definite improvement over his current state.
Edit: also as with any Trumpian statement it’s always safe to assume that reality is the exact opposite of whatever was said.
Standard conservative mindset. Swimming against the tide.
They might slow things, but the inevitable progress of technology plus equally inevitable increase in gas prices over time will shift the market to EVs anyway.
Gas prices don’t matter to people as much as they say, or they would have been pissed when he rolled back the mpg requirements last time. Gas prices are $2.50 a gallon! Why yes, but you would have got more than twice as far if you didn’t buy a car getting 20mpg, the requirements were set to 45mpg. But yikes, that would have cut fuel use and helped the environmental impacts… Can’t have that. Better to pay more than double to stick it to all our offspring and humanity
At this rate I’ll go buy a cheap used torch, slap two decent ebikes together and make my own. I literally need something to hold groceries a few miles I’m not blowing 100k on a vehicle with panel gaps as wide as the holes in musk’s ideology.
There are cargo e-bikes and trikes.
At the end of the day I wonder what a small electric engine attached to a bike wheel and battery would do?
If the rest of the world isn’t with you, it’ll burn anyway.
And the way it’s looking… 😬
It won’t necessarily destroy the EV market, but it will make it less competitive. Elon Musk is ok with ending the Federal tax credit because he believes it will hurt Tesla’s competitors more than it will hurt Tesla, and that will help Tesla get closer to full monopoly power. Nearly 50% of all EVs sold are Teslas, I expect that to go up.
The company that I think has the best chance to compete with Tesla is GM. Their Ultium platform will allow them to deliver quality EVs at affordable prices. As of Q3 2024, GM is selling the second most EVs, though they are still only selling a fraction of Tesla’s numbers.
For EVs, affordability is key, and GM has positioned themselves well to compete with Tesla on price. However, the GM brands aren’t exactly the most popular, and it’s hard to say if GM will be able to overcome that and convince American EV buyers that GM EVs are worth considering. Which is unfortunate, because GM, of all the legacy, domestic auto makers, has committed themselves to EVs the most.
Oh…that will change. Most people that are progressive enough to purchase electric vehicles are not buying new Tesla’s. I mean, hell, look at the regret that some people have over it (“I purchased this before Elon went crazy!”, etc.).
Right. So President Musk’s first act will be to destroy his competition.
I wish these articles would note that Congress gets a say. I know there’s a slim Republican majority in both houses but that’s not enough in the Senate.
Obviously, a lot can be done by executive order and that reconciliation exists. The tax credit would qualify for reconciliation bills and could easily be doomed. But half these articles act like Trump won’t face any resistance, even from within his own party.
Trump will literally just EO to stop the physical payment of rebates.
I hope his failures are far reaching, and catastrophic.
Or at least the consequences for him and his enablers.
