The future of EVs is (supposedly) brighter than it seems

The road to global adoption hasn’t always been smooth for electric vehicles, and recent events make it seem rockier than ever.

A blue EV charging with charging stations in the background.

But things are still looking up! Or, at least, they’re not looking as down as you might think.

Getting the plug pulled

Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end Biden-era attempts to promote EVs.

  • It will likely end the $7.5k tax credit for new EV buyers.
  • It will also pause funding for EV charging infrastructure.

And EV makers were in trouble already…

  • Just last week, EV startup Canoo (which made cars and not boats) filed for bankruptcy, making it one of “at least a dozen” EV-related startups that The Wall Street Journal predicts will shutter by next summer. 

US EV sales are up, but growth has slowed, which is scaring off automakers. 

  • In its desperation to break into the US market, Alfa Romeo, which sold less than 9k cars last year, just canceled plans to go all-electric by 2027, per Jalopnik.
  • Unlike Jaguar’s response to similar sales woes, Alfa Romeo’s plan is apparently to avoid anything exciting or new.

How could there possibly be a silver lining?

Last April, as sales were slowing but before the election, the International Energy Agency insisted there would be “surging demand” over the next decade.

  • Supposedly, IEA executive director Fatih Birol told CNN, “negative headlines about slowing EV penetration” were “out of step” with actual global demand.
  • In other words, if — and that’s if — sales have slowed, it’s not because people don’t want EVs.

OK, sure! 

But, more concretely, Trump’s order might not really do anything (yet). 

  • Kelley Blue Book explains that Trump’s proposed changes will require rewriting regulations, which takes time.
  • And that’s assuming there aren’t legal challenges, which there will be.
  • Courts are still discussing Biden’s repeal of Trump’s repeal of a California clean-emissions waiver in his first term.
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Topics: Evs

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