EVs collide with election-year politics

Trump’s mockery of electric vehicles bedevils automakers, dealers and investors.

This column is for Callaway Climate Insights subscribers only, but it’s OK to share once in a while. Was it shared with you? Please subscribe.

EVs in the U.S. have a steep hill to climb. AI-generated image.

(Bill Sternberg is a veteran Washington journalist and former editorial page editor of USA Today.)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Callaway Climate Insights) — Donald Trump’s victory speeches in the first two Republican nominating contests differed substantially in tone. He was relatively serene after the Iowa caucuses and fuming (opponent Nikki Haley called him “totally unhinged”) after the New Hampshire primary.

But the two speeches featured one thing in common: The former president and frontrunner for his party’s 2024 nomination mocked electric vehicles and vowed to “drill, baby, drill” if he returns to the White House.

With this year’s U.S. election shaping up as a rematch of the 2020 presidential contest between Trump and President Joe Biden, Trump’s disdain for EVs threatens to turn a consumer product into even more of a political piñata, reducing demand and slowing the nation’s transition away from fossil fuels.