Republicans can slow but not stop electric vehicles, experts say

To a large extent, the electric vehicle market in the United States runs on Democratic policies. There are federal tax credits for car buyers. Subsidies for battery manufacturing. Cheap loans to build electric car factories. Grants for chargers. Regulations that push automakers to sell more vehicles with no tailpipe emissions.

All of that support — amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars — could go away soon after the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, despite his close association with Elon Musk, CEO of the electric carmaker Tesla.

Trump and Republicans in Congress say they plan to eliminate most of the federal aid for electric cars and trucks and reverse emissions rules, raising doubts about the future of such vehicles and the billions of dollars that automakers have invested to design and build them.

Still, many auto experts say market forces and technological progress will ultimately drive a long-term transition to electric vehicles regardless of how far Republicans go in undoing President Joe Biden’s climate agenda.

Even a modest slowdown in electric vehicle sales could seriously hurt efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels, environmentalists said.

“We’re probably not moving fast enough right now,” said John Boesel, president of Calstart, a nonprofit group supported by businesses and governments that promotes clean transportation. “So any efforts to delay or slow things down will have negative impact for decades, if not centuries, to come.”

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