Federal Government May Make About-Face on EV Purchases

Transition documents seen by Reuters reveal that the next Trump administration plans to aggressively retract federal support for electric vehicles, reports Jonathan M. Gitlin in Wired.

According to Gitlin, “Trade tariffs will evidently be a major weapon of the next Trump administration, particularly when deployed to block EV manufacturing. Even the current administration has been wary enough of China dumping cheap EVs that it instituted singeing tariffs on Chinese-made EVs and batteries, with bipartisan support from Congress.” 

The incoming administration plans to eliminate the federal EV tax credit, claw back some of the $7.5 billion in funding dedicated to developing a charging network, and apply tariffs to battery materials globally, which will make EVs more expensive — including for U.S. automakers. “Currently the federal government is required to purchase more EVs as it replaces old vehicles, with a requirement for all light vehicles to be zero emissions by 2027. This will no longer be the case under Trump, who will also end any Department of Defense programs that are meant to purchase or develop electric military vehicles.”