While tariffs continue to be the main headline makers around the Trump administration in the USA, car makers in the country are also increasingly worried about anti EV policies which they fear could spark an irreparable decline in the US auto industry.  

Since he came to power, Donald Trump has effectively declared war on electric vehicles, while backing high emission petrol powered cars. Indeed he has described the Biden administration’s support for the EV industry as a Marxist “hoax” that hurt U.S. workers. The dramatic policy shift has almost gone unnoticed outside of the US, but the destructive directives include: 

• Removal of federal support for projects which aim to build electric or hybrid vehicles. 
• Removal of federal support for projects which aim to make electric vehicle batteries. 
• Removing federal funding for the further roll-out of an EV charging network. 
• Removal of physical charging stations from government buildings. 
• No further funding for the purchase of state electric vehicles.
• The sell-off of existing state owned EVs. 
• The planned removal of the $7500 tax incentive for EV purchases. 

Back tracking on EV commitments made by the Biden administration is likely to cost the US government an estimated $1 billion, while many states, including California have taken legal action to protect funding for the development of the charging network. A lawsuit, filed in Seattle, says, the Trump cut’s, "Will devastate the ability of states to build the charging infrastructure necessary for making EVs accessible to more consumers, combating climate change, reducing other harmful pollution, and supporting the states' green economies."

You may expect US car makers to back Trump’s support of the combustion engine, but they have all expressed concerns about the anti EV policies being imposed. Most clearly recognise that although combustion engines will continue to be a major force for many years to come, there has been a sea change in thinking in the automotive world and the future will be focused on zero emission vehicles, especially EVs. By effectively cutting support for EV development in the US, the Trump administration risks putting the US industry even further behind competitors, especially China, which have embraced EV technology and made it more affordable.  Effectively the US industry runs the risk of building petrol powered cars, which the rest of the world will not want, and, neither will US consumers once they see how EV technology has progressed in other parts of the world.  

It often seems like the Trump administration and its supporters would dearly love to send the country back to the days of the wild-west. The attitude to EVs echoes this and is perhaps the equivalent of pumping money into, wagons, blacksmiths and livery stables just as the American public’s imagination is being captured by the introduction of the automobile.