Donald Trump has popped the electric vehicle balloon in promising to end the Biden EV mandate requiring 56% of new cars sold in America by 2032 to be electric. Those rules, issued by the EPA, would achieve that draconian goal by massively reducing tailpipe emissions. Those rules are now going to be dumped as the Trump EPA won't defend them in court.
The mandate would have been close to impossible to achieve given the public's resistance to electric vehicles. The EPA shoving EVs down the throats of car buyers by making gas-powered vehicles scarce is not the way to effect a transition to alternate power sources for vehicles.
He's also expected to push for an end to the $7,500 EV subsidy and is freezing the unspent billions Congress set aside for EV charging stations. This is something Congress will have to do, but there are probably enough votes to accomplish it right now. Putting EVs back on a level playing field with gas-powered cars will spur innovation and force manufacturers to make them more sellable.
As a matter of policy, ending the E.V. mandate is not a bad thing: The EPA rules effectively prioritized fully electric vehicles over hybrids, even though demand shows that Americans are more comfortable with hybrids that use less gasoline but can take long trips without being completely dependent on public charging stations. Polls show that while generally receptive to E.V.s, the public largely opposes a mandate.
True, climate change is a real problem that needs to be addressed. But mandating the use of one particular technology over another is an overreach of federal authority.
Besides, markets are more effective at developing technologies that people will adopt, rather than simply mandating whatever is in vogue at the time.
Untangling the government from the tentacles of the Green New Deal will be harder than dumping the EV mandate. Trump promised an end to the "Green New Scam " in his July acceptance speech at the GOP convention, but much of that spending is tied up in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Biden has been rushing to disburse money from the various programs before he was to leave office.
Biden in recent months raced to allocate much of the funding, which could make it impossible to roll back. But Trump has previously said he would try. Fully repealing the law would require congressional approval.
As of October, 62 projects totaling $26.2 billion had been announced for Michigan, including a GM plant in Lansing being retooled for EVs, a nickel mine west of Marquette to help supply EV battery manufacturing and potential restart of the shuttered Palisades nuclear power plant.
However, only six of those projects were operational, leaving many of the rest vulnerable to clawbacks if Trump revokes additional IRA spending.
What Trump can do with the stroke of his pen, he has done or is doing. Other actions will need the support of Congress. Trump has indicated a desire to include as much as possible of his unfinished agenda in the Reconciliation Act that is slowly coming into focus on the Hill.
Democratic obstructionism will halt some of the progress on ending the EV mandate and other nonsense from the 2022 law. But if Republicans can remain united, they can accomplish much of what Trump wants.
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