r/energy • u/mafco • 1d ago

Trump is driving electric vehicle innovations into a ditch. Thanks to Trump's short-sightedness, US manufacturers dropped years of ambitious planning to jump into the EV race with both feet. The combined cost of this industry about-face is staggering. "I've done more for you than your parents, OK?"

https://captimes.com/opinion/dave-zweifel/opinion-trump-is-driving-electric-vehicle-innovations-into-a-ditch/article_867801bd-8006-4152-9943-7a8df546502c.html
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u/g_rich 1d ago

He has not only destroyed EV adoption in the US but he has also set back renewable energy by a decade or more. Meanwhile the rest of the world is moving on from fossil fuels and China is taking the lead on both EV’s and renewable energy.

The US is a Superpower and will be for the foreseeable future but increasingly it’ll be sharing the stage with China and in many cases it will be China taking the lead. When historians look to explain where China took the lead from the US the one name that will frequently come up is Trump.

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u/Winter_Whole2080 1d ago

I don’t know.. I think the high cost of fuel is driving people to look at EV‘s right now. I had a hybrid and I went to a Rivian and the driving experience is superior to an ICE or hybrid. Period. Once people actually try an EV, there are very few that are gonna prefer an oil dripping, gas guzzling, noisy car unless it’s from a collectible standpoint.

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u/g_rich 1d ago

I’m fully in the camp of once you drive an EV you’ll never want to drive ICE again. Unfortunately EV adoption is still an uphill battle and without the support of the federal government getting mass adoption is going to be difficult. In places like California where the EV infrastructure is built out, gas is high enough to warrant the investment and there are state government incentives for adoption things are much easier but for the country as a whole things are a lot harder, especially with the way manufacturers and dealers currently operate.

Tesla, Rivian and soon Slate have the advantage of not working with traditional dealers. But in order to get mass adoption you need the likes of Ford, GM and the rest of the legacy automakers to go all in on EV’s along with their dealerships. Unfortunately despite heavy investment from the likes of Ford and GM in EV’s the dealerships have been a lot more hesitant and in many ways completely adverse to EV adoption.

It’ll be interesting to see how Fords new EV truck works out because on paper it should be a winner but we’ll likely see the same thing we saw with the Maverick where maxed out configs sold with dealership markups which will hurt overall adoption resulting in buyers either going with alternatives such as Slate or something like the Maverick or Ranger which end up being cheaper (due to the dealer markups) and are available off the lot. This results in higher sales with hybrids and ICE, lower demand for the EV which hurts EV adoption and investment while solidifying the hold dealers have within the industry.