Is it An Electric Car or a Bidenmobile? Greening of Transportation Gets Political
“Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that’s gonna be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That’ll be the least of it.”
The “least of it?” One shudders to imagine what he thinks “the most of it” could be.
Yet, contrary to many frightening headlines, the U.S. market for EVs is not collapsing. EV sales were up 40% in the last quarter of 2023 from the same quarter in 2022, according to Cox Automotive. EV sales in the U.S. also topped a million last year for the first time, but there still are questions about the market’s health and how quickly the transformation from gas-powered cars to EVs realistically can take place.
Perhaps the cars were overhyped in the beginning and thus are easy targets in an election year.
Surveys show the biggest consumer concerns include the sticker prices, the availability of charging stations, anxieties about running out of energy in the middle of nowhere, confusion about tax credits and cold weather.
Cars always have been one of the most American of commodities. Mom, apple pie and Chevrolet, right? But for some, if our wheels aren’t spewing out carbon, they’re downright un-American.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
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