Why Republicans love to hate electric vehicles
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 June 2024
⏱️ 22 minutes
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Summary
Two years ago, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which included the most ambitious climate measures in the U.S. to date. It contains tax credits for electric vehicles, and his administration has taken subsequent action forcing automakers to shift production away from gas-powered vehicles by capping allowable carbon emissions from the auto industry.
But many consumers remain skeptical of the technology, and its adoption is largely concentrated in areas where Democrats are in the majority.
All of this has become fodder for former president Donald Trump. At a recent rally in Las Vegas, he vowed to end the “mandate on electric” and complained that batteries are too heavy to power trucks and boats.
And now, vulnerable Senate Democrats, such as Ohio’s Sherrod Brown and Montana’s Jon Tester, who helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act, find themselves under attack for their party’s climate policies. Host Elahe Izadi speaks with Senate reporter Liz Goodwin about how one of Biden’s signature accomplishments turned into a liability for Democrats and could affect which party controls the Senate next year.
Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff. It was edited by Reena Flores and Ted Muldoon and mixed by Sean Carter.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You know when I think of all the dominant campaign issues this year to come to mind abortion and immigration |
| 0:09.5 | are you surprised that of all things electric vehicles are part of this equation? |
| 0:15.0 | I am and I think a huge part of it is just Trump. |
| 0:19.0 | Pretty much every single rally he talks about electric vehicles. |
| 0:22.0 | It's kind of a hobby horse of his. single rally, he talks about electric vehicles. |
| 0:22.6 | It's kind of a hobby horse of his. |
| 0:25.3 | Liz Goodwin covers the Senate for the post, |
| 0:27.8 | and she noticed this habit of former President Donald Trump. |
| 0:31.9 | He constantly criticizes electric vehicle policies at his rallies. |
| 0:36.7 | We're going to end the mandate on electric. |
| 0:38.8 | Now they want to go all electric and put you all out of business. |
| 0:42.3 | Biden's mandate isn't a government regulation. |
| 0:44.9 | It's a government assassination. |
| 0:46.8 | It's the kind of thing that if your five-year-old grandson |
| 0:49.6 | were sitting up here and you gave him a quiz, |
| 0:52.3 | he would say, don't bother with the electric |
| 0:53.9 | promoting electric vehicles is a key part of the Biden administration's |
| 0:58.8 | climate policy they think it will both you know help slow global warming and the worst effects of global warming and then also would create all these high-paying manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Liz sees this dynamic playing out between Trump and Biden, but also on the ground |
| 1:21.0 | she says there are practical reasons why electric vehicles are less popular in some parts of the country. |
| 1:27.0 | You know, in Blue States, the adoption is higher. A lot of that is because they're great for driving around in cities. |
| 1:34.0 | The long-range issue of like how far can the car drive before getting a charge is still kind of |
| 1:39.5 | of preventing a lot of more rural people from buying them. |
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