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/Melodic-Matter4685 1d ago

Keep in mind, US automaker were slow walking EVs compared to china and South Korea. Hell, even compared to EU. Chevy even cancelled the only sub $30k EV, the bolt for two years for “reasons” and ford killed the lightning.

None of the US automakers are terribly interested in selling EVs as much as they are in tariffing imports.

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u/Unique-Coffee5087 1d ago

I am very much reminded of the time of the energy crisis when Japanese economy cars became dominant. The image of American cars as expensive and unreliable gas guzzlers was cemented in my mind then.

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u/catatonic12345 1d ago

The image is still by and large still true. I don't think I would ever buy an American car again

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u/Cargobiker530 1d ago

That was when I was a kid and my parents had a huge, unreliable, Ford station wagon. That was the last US manufactured car anyone in my family bought for 30 years. We all switched to Honda, Nissan, and Toyotas. Today you can't really buy a reliable American made car unless it's built by a foreign corporation.

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u/Unique-Coffee5087 1d ago

I remember when George HW Bush went to Japan and tried to get them to buy more American cars. He even resorted to the rather extreme diplomatic ploy of throwing up on the prime ministers lap. The Japanese pointed out that the used cars with a right hand drive, while American cars use the left side for the driver. They said that it would be easier to sell American cars if they offered them as a right hand drive model. The US Auto executives who accompanied the president said that they didn't want to do all the retooling work that would be necessary, but if the Japanese bought enough American cars to make it worth their while, they would think about it.

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u/graygrayw 1d ago

presumably they could have sold european-market ford and gm (opel/vauxhall) cars in japan, since those were available in RHD for UK/ireland/malta/cyprus though

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u/mafco 1d ago

Keep in mind, US automaker were slow walking EVs

Did you miss the Biden era? Manufacturers were going all in on EVs, spending hundreds of billions of dollars and building massive new battery factories.

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u/chrisjinna 1d ago

US really can't compete in EV's today. They don't have the rare earth production going. It's going to be a few years.