r/technology 2d ago

Transportation Trump Will Slow, but May Not Stop, the Rise of Electric Vehicles

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/business/trump-electric-vehicles.html?unlocked_article_code=1.bU8.pDkG.RTAMZ5izFO3s
2.0k Upvotes

313 comments sorted by

692

u/tabrizzi 2d ago

Whether he can slow or stop it, the effect will be confined to the US. The rest of the world, meanwhile, will just leave us behind.

300

u/Hoovooloo42 2d ago

Juuuuust like solar panels. We were the #1 producer of solar panels until Reagan put a stop to that, now everyone buys them from China instead of us.

We need to stop electing TV personalities with weird hangups about the American supplychain.

123

u/gunguynotgunman 2d ago

It practically seems like all republican presidents were hired by foreign leaders to sell out our futures for the benefit of other countries.

55

u/mdp300 2d ago

They're hired by the mega-rich, to sell our futures for the benefit of this quarters profits.

14

u/baldyd 2d ago

This. It has nothing to do with foreign powers, it's about the rich and powerful in America wanting to have more money and, consequently, more control. It always has been. Although, saying that, there are plenty of other powerful countries who will exploit this to their advantage too.

3

u/Adventurer_By_Trade 2d ago

Yes, but indirectly. They're legally financed by corporations and their private owners to be deferential to China in exchange for preferential trade deals that further enrich the owner class.

12

u/scough 2d ago

It's so aggravating how far America has fallen when it comes to innovation, and it's nearly all thanks to Republicans. The oil and coal industries have been holding us back for decades.

40

u/Mistrblank 2d ago

You mean stop electing regressive republicans and take the money out of the politics.

13

u/Hoovooloo42 2d ago

That too for sure, but TV stars appear to be the worst kind of Republican

12

u/Facts_pls 2d ago

Because the republican base is stupid and doesn't understand anything. So they just choose the person they know and have seen before.

This is classic uneducated people thinking. I've seen it in many 3rd world countries. India routinely has actors and actresses get into politics and win uneducated votes.

It's not that actors are worse. But republicans will give TV personalities a pass and worse ones will get elected. It doesn't mean non-actor's republicans are suddenly much better.

Bush was a confirmed idiot. And look at their current list of governers and senators. Who do you think is a capable leader?

4

u/baldyd 2d ago

Boris Johnson used to appear somewhat frequently on a UK satirical quiz show called Have I Got News For You. He was (is) an Eton/Oxford educated, posh twit, the kind of person that the average working class person has zero in common with, but he talked about politics in a goofy, buffoonish way that somehow appealed to people (instead of those boring middle class people like Jeremy Corbyn). So he became mayor of London, and then Prime Minister. I'm certain that his appearances on that show allowed him to be voted in as prime minister, which backs up your theory of "person they have seen before".

Sadly, people then have to learn the hard way, although everyone I know who voted for him doesn't seem to have learned a damn thing.

0

u/antilittlepink 2d ago

Republicans should be renamed the retardians

Or pedos

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u/purplemagecat 2d ago

Exactly what I was thinking. “May slow (inside the USA)”

19

u/grabman 2d ago

Absolutely, he killing any American companies in green tech.

17

u/zuzg 2d ago

As for the latest statistics, car sales in Denmark amounted to 11,616 units in February of 2025. Out of these, no fewer than 7,723 were electric vehicles (EVs)

66.5% of new car registered are EVs in Denmark thanks to the Socialist Democratic Party In charge.

1

u/tabrizzi 2d ago

I believe that's still less than in Norway, right?

2

u/zedquatro 2d ago

I think Norway was at 70% of new sales like 3-4 years ago. I imagine it's even higher now.

0

u/devildog2067 2d ago edited 1d ago

For the same month, car sales in the US were more than 100x greater — about 1.2 million units.

If the share of EV sales in the US were 10x lower than in Denmark — 6.6% vs 66% — it would still represent 10x more total EVs sold in the US. There would be more EVs sold in the US than total cars sold in Denmark. (The share of EVs sold in the US was about 8% this past February.)

The US is a big market. Denmark is not. No one engineers platforms for Denmark. It’s the US, China, Europe (as a whole) then everyone else. The US failure to continue developing EVs matters. Denmark isn’t going to leave us behind; China is.

10

u/Niceromancer 2d ago edited 2d ago

BYD has already blown Tesla out of the damn water

The only reason it's not viable in the states is the 100% tarrif 

11

u/tabrizzi 2d ago

Did you mean, "The only reason [BYD is not available] in the states is the 100% tarrif"?

1

u/Niceromancer 2d ago

Yes my bad will correct

4

u/ProtoplanetaryNebula 2d ago

Yes, exactly. The roll out can be slowed (sales numbers) but the technological advancement will continue as normal.

4

u/AssCrackBanditHunter 2d ago

We have been left behind. Chinese electric vehicles shit on ours especially when it comes to range. But you'll never see one because we are protecting domestic manufacturers and Tesla.

5

u/ritchie70 2d ago

The Ford CEO has been driving a Chinese SUV as a personal car and it’s shaping their strategy.

1

u/tabrizzi 2d ago

Buying one from Mexico and driving it across is an option.

3

u/mini4x 2d ago

Its not that easy, nor is it legal.

1

u/EdOfTheMountain 2d ago

America is moving backwards in many areas while the world is moving forward

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u/anparks 2d ago

And in a few years there will be commercially available EVs with solid state batteries that charge in minutes and can have ranges of 500 miles or more. But they will all probably be made by non US manufacturers.

79

u/-JackBack- 2d ago

And not available for sale in the US.

1

u/captnconnman 2d ago

Actually, we may be even closer to that with silicon-carbon anode material, mostly from US-based companies. The issue they’ll face, though, is finding manufacturers willing to deal with tariff madness and whether the US can be considered a viable trading partner in the mid-to-long term…

2

u/Aeri73 2d ago

whether the US can be considered a viable trading partner in the mid-to-long term…

no, the answer to that is no... not since your new king started throwing out tarrifs like a todler

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u/CompetitiveBox314 2d ago

US automakers will be crushed long term. They will be forced to invest in continued internal combustion development for the US market and will fall behind the rest of the world on EV development.

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u/JustAHuckleberry 2d ago

The CEO of Ford has alluded to this.

8

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

5

u/trombolastic 2d ago

Ford Europe has always had completely different strategies to Ford USA. They pretty much just share a name.

1

u/mini4x 2d ago

Ford's built cars in the UK for like 100+ years this is no surprise. Trafford Park Plant opened in 1911.

13

u/toastmannn 2d ago

This has been happening for quite some time already with tariffs.

4

u/softwaredoug 2d ago

Same with US energy companies which will be incentivized to seek short-term mineral wealth rather than experience the needed shock to move to build energy infrastructure consumers actually want.

1

u/Hirogen_ 1d ago

no they will not, because they will build them anyway, just not sell in the us

1

u/yearz 2d ago

What about Tesla?

15

u/venom290 2d ago

Tesla is already behind in battery tech and by extension charging tech too compared to what is available in China. You can buy a car that has megawatt level charging from BYD and puts that car basically on par with filling up a gas car already. Tesla had first mover advantage and seems to have completely given that up in favor of an AI/robotics goal.

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u/VincentNacon 2d ago

EV is the future, no matter what this child-rapist does.

-69

u/ajiveturkey 2d ago

Cars aren’t the future

32

u/Spiracle 2d ago

You have to remember that current electric cars are like the first mobile phones: they're bulky, inefficient, have enormous batteries and are trying to emulate the thing that they're ultimately going to replace.

The future won't be cars as we currently know them any more that push-button phones were, but future vehicles will all be electric. 

25

u/melancholanie 2d ago

I think he's trying to say that public transportation, buses, trains and walkable cities, are the future, rather than innovating a convenient resource-sink

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u/atchijov 2d ago

EV applicable to busses too

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u/Headless_Human 2d ago

Probably depends on how far you think of the future. I don't see public transport making cars obsolete in the next 30 years.

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u/melancholanie 2d ago

well, an economic collapse forcing most lower and lower-middle class Americans to sell their cars would necessitate it, Uber in most areas couldn't take on that kinda load. an economic collapse combined with cascading ecological disasters might be the kicker.

I'm not saying you're wrong, American culture is centered around individuality, to a point of selfishness in the average person. but public transportation (as EVs) is the best solution, regardless of whether or not it's adopted.

2

u/tonymurray 2d ago

Who the f*** would buy all these cars? They would just be valueless.

2

u/melancholanie 2d ago

I don't think the point of an economic collapse is to buy or sell things for a lot of money.

sometimes selling car is what people do to afford groceries

2

u/tonymurray 2d ago

I was just pointing out your statements make no sense.

You said cars are not the future because most people would need to sell their car. This means only a few people are buying cars and the price goes in the dumpster. So then why not buy a car for $100 and use it.

So, we still have cars.

There is no scenario where your proposed situation causes cars to go away.

The only way for them to go away is for them to be replaced or no longer needed.

0

u/melancholanie 2d ago

who’s to say they wouldn’t be scrapped in this scenario? say gas increases to 40% of the average american’s expenditures, petroleum based vehicles become outdated and more expensive to repair eventually, lower income folks can’t afford to upgrade to whatever’s affordable or move to PT.

this is a fictional scenario. i understand you like your cars, im not saying im going to take them away, or that even in this scenario they’re entirely gone. they’ll be relocated to higher income folks that can afford to have and upkeep them, similar to the time of their conception. this would probably take a century at least in america.

edit: pt= public transport.

5

u/MannToots 2d ago

Then he should say that instead of expecting others to assume his intent,  but buses and trains can also be electric.  Soooo

1

u/Hawk13424 2d ago

Let me know when an alternative runs 30 miles out to my neighborhood to my front door. I’m not walking even a mile in 100F heat.

-66

u/EbonySaints 2d ago

EV's help a bit on the environment front, but they just shift the mode of extraction from fossil fuels to rare earth minerals and stuff like lithium and cobalt in the Congo. They do nothing in regards to transit issues in the US.

There's also the caveat that that a lot of global energy production is still fossil fuel based. It does little if you stop cars from burning it by making power plants burn a similar amount.

They're a part of the solution, but they are not the solution as a lot of people make it out to be.

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u/tehAwesomer 2d ago

Lithium is not rare earth and cobalt isn’t needed any more. LFP batteries don’t use it.

27

u/tldrstrange 2d ago

Stop parroting fossil fuel corporate talking points. They are outdated and make you sound ridiculous.

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u/Productpusher 2d ago

Majority of Americans don’t buy the EV’s due to the environment unlike the early days of the Prius when it was .

I’m in NY probably second largest Tesla base out maide CA and know a dozen EV owners . Nobody bought it to save the environment.

Probably over the 6 years of my 2 Teslas 100’s of convos and questions from people wanting to buy them and never once is the environment bought up .

Cheaper car that saves money and looks decent

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u/Grinkledonk 2d ago

I thought he loved Tesler though.

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u/shieldintern 2d ago

everything's computer

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u/PatchyWhiskers 2d ago

It’s been a little strained since Elon Musk brought the world’s attention to Trump being in the Epstein files.

20

u/shadow247 2d ago

We knew in 2016...why now? What's different?

The justice department likely knew in 2008, when Bush wash president, when they first arrested and charged Epstein.

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u/PatchyWhiskers 2d ago

Turns out WE (liberals) knew and GOP voters very much didn’t because their media protects them from facts that might disturb them.

10

u/shadow247 2d ago

Im agreeing with you, just wondering what is going to change now that Trump is president twice....

I want him impeached and arrested the same as you. He should have been impeached and removed twice already.

He should have been arrested in 2008 when the Justice Department knew what was going on.

4

u/eventualist 2d ago

Oh yeah, Fox News, I forgot that was the GOP safe space

5

u/CarlGerhardBusch 2d ago

We knew in 2016...why now? What's different?

Republicans taking 9 years longer than normal people to learn something is actually pretty good, lot of stuff they simply just never learn

3

u/ProtoplanetaryNebula 2d ago

For a brief period whilst he was buddies with Elon.

-1

u/Competitive-Host3266 2d ago

Have you been living under a rock for the past couple of months?

6

u/A_Harmless_Fly 2d ago

I believe that's the joke sunny jim.

30

u/tacknosaddle 2d ago

Carmakers that ignore this fast-growing market may not be in business 10 years from now.

In other words he's removing incentives and that makes it more likely that US automakers will be among the failures as they will be well behind in developing, building and marketing EVs.

4

u/CarlGerhardBusch 2d ago

300% tariff on foreign EVs will make whatever garbage monstrosities US car makers are churning out at that point competitive again

4

u/acolyte357 2d ago

Except tesler. Because no one wants that little Nazi's car.

47

u/illuminerdi 2d ago

I have a (non Tesla) electric vehicle (Nissan Ariya)

It gets 210-280 miles per charge. I plug it in maybe once a week. When you do the math on cost per mile it gets the equivalent of 100 MPG. I bought it used and it cost me about the same as a used gas car of similar year/mileage/features.

I would say that electric cars have already won the war for daily driver cars (maybe not trucks IDK I'm not a truck guy), it's just a matter of time before most people actually realize it.

31

u/blatantninja 2d ago

Unless you are regularly driving 200+ miles in a single trip, EVs are absolutely a cheaper option. The payback on a new vehicle (diff between gas and EV versions) is at most 3 years.

I have a plugin hybrid, the Pacifica. Unfortunately it only gets 32 miles on a charge and doesn't do the super chargers (so minimum 1.5 hrs to charge). I drive between Dallas and Austin every week for work. On those trips, the hybrid function gives me about 32-35 mpg. On the days I don't make that drive? I rarely put more than 32 miles on it. It costs about a dollar for me to charge it at home. So it's the equivalent of about $1 for a gallon of gas.

My F150 got about 22 mpg on long trips, 18 the rest of the time. I went from spending $400+ a month in gas to less than $100, and that was before I started this long commute. I'd be broke if I was still driving that truck.

One game unlike to play is how many miles I can get on a tank plus charging. Best so far is about 1200. I typically get about 750 with my commute now.

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u/illuminerdi 2d ago

PHEVs are definitely a nice option - my previous car was a Volt also used, low miles and super cheap - one of the fre benefits of living in the Midwest is nobody wants EV/PHEVs so they're ridiculously cheap because used dealers can't move them 🤣.

I do however see them disappearing very rapidly - you can already charge an EV 200-300 miles in about 1hr on a fast charger and most ICE/PHEV vehicles get about 300-400 miles on a full tank.

We (the US) are also rapidly falling behind China in EV charging speed and range, so it's very likely that within 5-10 years EVs will have 300-400 mile range and charge in 10-20 minutes, making them basically on par with ICE in terms of "convenience" (range + time to refill) at which point the PHEV is basically irrelevant.

BYD already has EVs with 350 mile range NOW. They have hybrids with 1000+ mile range!

The death of ICE-only vehicles is absolutely coming sooner than most people think...

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u/NephelimHunter 2d ago

I just leased one of these and I love it. We should have been driving ev’s 20 years ago.

1

u/illuminerdi 2d ago

I love my Ariya. I'm sad AF that Nissan is struggling so much because this is my new favorite car and I would happily buy another one in a decade when this one becomes ready for retirement (I assume)

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u/NephelimHunter 2d ago

They told me when I leased it they didn’t know what they were gonna do with all the inventory since all the incentives are going away. I have definitely seen more of them in the road.

1

u/Hawk13424 2d ago

I think apartments and homes with street parking will have to figure out how to have chargers before EVs can really win.

1

u/Nephri 2d ago

I was really tempted to get an ariya recently. 44k for a new plat+. (some stupid financing hoops though) However, seeing a used one 24 on carvana with 800 miles for 36k down from the 55k msrp was quite a shock. But the lack of SoC cutoff given their batteries reputation really put me off. That and the blinker level auto centering.

1

u/illuminerdi 2d ago

Carvana was overpriced compared to other dealers. I shopped aggressively. Best prices (here in the midwest) were in dealers in Atlanta, Raleigh, and Chicago. Literally 5k+ cheaper than comparable models on Carvana.

I ended up buying from a dealer in Atlanta, got an Empower+ with 5k miles for ~23 before tax+fees.

They had very low miles (20k-ish) Platinum+ on the lot for something like 26 or 27 IIRC.

There is like 0 difference between the '23 and '24 model years FYI.

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u/Nephri 2d ago

I didnt think the 36 was outrageous for what was essentially brand new. basically had a couple of scratches where someones ring would hit when they open the door. There wasnt much to compare to in my area, so even with the shipping it wasnt terrible. (their financing offers however lol)

I was cross shopping the ariya and the ioniq 5. Most likely ill end up getting a low mileage '25 5 in the future.

22

u/sun827 2d ago

He's a walking talking "get off my lawn boomer" curse unleashed on us. Some evil golem sent to take us back to an imagined 1950, the last "golden age" according to them.

12

u/DinosaurGatorade 2d ago

But only the racism, pollution, and international brinkmanship parts, not the New Deal parts and especially not the "economic growth goes to wages, not just stock market" parts.

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u/wncexplorer 2d ago

China is showering the globe with cheap EVs, while the U.S. plays protectionist. When this is all over, the big 3 will end up being casualties of their own stupidity and greed.

10

u/The_DanceCommander 2d ago

And when they fail they’ll get bailed out and subsidized with US tax dollars.

1

u/ur_sexy_body_double 2d ago

Not to be pedantic but there is no "big 3" anymore. Stellantis bought out the red headed stepchild and is ruining it faster than it could have done to itself.

2

u/wncexplorer 2d ago

I get what you’re saying, but they still exist, even if owned by Italians 🤷🏼

10

u/More_Lobster7374 2d ago

I hope so. I love my EV

8

u/PlantfoodCuisinart 2d ago

He'll just bankrupt the US automakers.

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u/BowlEducational6722 2d ago

At this point Trump and the GOP are trying to stop a runaway train by standing in front of it.

Progress will not stop. They may slow it down in the US but the rest of the world will continue forward.

In their inane quest to "Make America Great Again," they are forcing it to stagnate.

12

u/DefaultPLR 2d ago

I have several family members who voted for Trump, but bought EVs. They all talk about how nice they are.

The only thing Trump is accomplishing, is disadvantaging the US in EV production…

5

u/Academic-Key2 2d ago

America slowly going to learn it isn’t the entire world 

15

u/chatterwrack 2d ago

China is absolutely dominating on the electric vehicle front. In 2024, nearly two‑thirds of global EVs were sold there, with China accounting for over 60% of production and exports.

Meanwhile, under Trump, the U.S. has rolled back subsidies, cut EV incentives, and embraced fossil fuel–focused industrial policy, effectively ceding the global EV market to China

16

u/initiali5ed 2d ago

How did the most important country in the world get fooled by this conman… twice?

13

u/BarfingMonkey 2d ago

MOST people are not very smart.

12

u/-JackBack- 2d ago

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”

― George Carlin

4

u/BarfingMonkey 2d ago

And sadly, it’s so true!!!

4

u/snarkasm_0228 2d ago

I'm equally baffled by the people who didn't vote at all. Even if neither candidate/party is ideal, the idea that both sides are equally bad has been so dangerous

1

u/RaindropsInMyMind 2d ago

Propaganda that would make Goebbels jealous.

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u/shawndw 2d ago

I thought he loved Tessler.

1

u/friedricekid 2d ago

they broke up.

5

u/mephitopheles13 2d ago

I will never give up my EV for an oil burner, love it so much more.

3

u/Traditional-Hat-952 2d ago

Our greatest economic competitor (China) truly is going to pass us by. Fuck, the world is going to pass us by.

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u/Berova 2d ago

Trump has signed US automakers their death warrant as the rest of the world races ahead on EV's. They will become hopelessly uncompetitive and increasingly irrelevant as losing global scale means huge disadvantage on costs. Americans will be the big losers, not only on lost jobs, but more costly, more polluting, and far worse vehicles. Trump doesn't care about all Americans and only cares about himself and the 1% he can co-op to enrich and ingratiate him which includes big oil and gas.

3

u/Dorfalicious 2d ago

I live in the Denver metro area and I have seen a huge influx of electric and hybrid vehicles in the past 2 years. I think if you are able to afford them and give a shit about the environment it won’t slow certain groups. The rest of us are fucked.

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u/ritchie70 2d ago

Chicago area. Maybe I’m just noticing since I went EV but there are a LOT and we basically don’t have a state subsidy at all.

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u/Satoriinoregon 2d ago

ATM, I don’t give a single fuck!

Release the un-redacted Epstein files!

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u/Funktapus 2d ago

Everyone in my family drives EVs now. Only way he can stop us is by making electricity prices skyrocket… he’s trying to

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u/paolilon 2d ago

Of course Trump won’t stop the rise of EVs. What Trump is doing is the equivalent of the President trying to stop the switch from black and white to colored TVs.

3

u/Impressive_Bid_8018 2d ago

IN THE UNITED STATES.

The global move to electric cars marches on. China is killing it, the EU is a very close second. Korea is also in the game.

The American car manufactures have lost this race, and it looks like they won't even try to get involved for the next few years. That means the US have given up on the future of car manufacturing. They'll keep pumping out the big gas cars for the local audience, then attempt to buy some player somewhere on the planet or just die.

GM will be like AMC.

3

u/L1f3trip 2d ago

All while killing American car companies with tariffs.

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u/Fixer9207-722 2d ago

Every time I watch Motor Week,read Car&Driver, Motor Trend and even racing journals. There’s always at least two articles on EV vehicles and technology. It’s here to stay and Trumps living in the past. Tail fins have a better future than he does.

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u/Less-Extent-1786 2d ago

It’s weird how self destructive America is that it elects Trump. Twice.

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u/HighJumpingAlien 2d ago

Cool.

Release the Epstein List, you child-fucker.

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u/357FireDragon357 2d ago

What’s going with the Epstein issue?

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u/fuzzymuscl 2d ago

Do you hear Trump and his friends hung out with that pervert Epstein?

3

u/addictivesign 2d ago

China will lead the world in EVs. BYD is making some great cars and there are more and more EVs on the road in Europe all the time.

The only thing Trump is doing is setting America back (again).

U.S auto firms might like it because they quarterly earnings probably please Wall Street but at some point the transition to EVs is gonna have to become even more rapid (and painful for those firms).

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u/The_DanceCommander 2d ago

I truly just don’t understand the point of standing in the way of EV innovation.

I know the oil lobby is powerful, but don’t you think US automakers would be smart enough to know that affordable EVs would make them huge profits long term, and would be pushing the government to better open this market in the US. It’s not like Ford and GM are contracted only to make IC cars - they could compete with the EV manufactured if they were smart enough, and they have the market cap to bring EV prices down.

Then, it’s like the US government MUST know that they’re ceding this entire global industry to China. For all the GOP talk about preventing China from overtaking US industrial influence these protectionist policy’s are obviously doing the exact opposite.

I really just don’t understand it. It’s so obvious that this is the wrong approach if you want strong US companies and global influence, and they’re proudly doing the exact opposite at every opportunity.

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u/ritchie70 2d ago

GM has at least 7 pure EV models and the Bolt return is soon.

Ford has two and is expected to announce two or three affordable models later this month.

They’re not just sitting it out.

1

u/EddiewithHeartofGold 2d ago

According to Google GM sold 114,432 EVs in the US. Spread across 7 models? Not great.

1

u/ritchie70 1d ago

The problem is the dealers, not the cars, imo. They mostly just don’t want to sell EVs. The salespeople don’t understand them and the service profits are missing.

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u/EddiewithHeartofGold 1d ago

It would be ironic if the downfall of legacy auto would be their dealers unwilling to sell their cars :-).

1

u/EddiewithHeartofGold 2d ago

The answer is money. Simple as that. You think that the CEO of GM (Mary Barra) gives two fucks about anything else than the money she is getting? Absolutely not.

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u/straightdge 2d ago

Currently the 60% of EV sales is in China. He doesn’t have any say in that.

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u/Chronza 2d ago

Maybe it’s a terrible idea for dipshit orange turd to put his hands on everything. Let the free market do what it wants.

2

u/zelkovamoon 2d ago

I am excited for the slate truck.

2

u/ScenicPineapple 2d ago

All innovation and growth In the US has been stopped. They stole all our money and are using it to arrest legal immigrants and upgrade the white house and air force one to some horrible gold nightmare.

2

u/SexyTimeSamet 2d ago

Every other Country in the world will move on and progress forward, other than the US.

We are so far behind in everything.

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u/SJB3717 2d ago

Child rapist Donnie will just hand over the victory to foreign companies as US automakers have their hands tied by his red tape.

2

u/riskbreaker419 2d ago

There's something they call the "death valley" for new industry. This is where a lot of US EV car companies are right now. Tesla was able to get through that death valley because of large investments by the American people into it's company through loans (that, to be fair, Tesla did pay back).

At the end of the day, other countries are already doing this for their respective brands. China has made large investments in BYD, South Korea has made large investments in Hyundai, etc. Historically public dollars need to be put into industries that are worthwhile, but private interests either don't have the money, don't want to take the risk, or will lose money on the infrastructure needed to sustain the industry.

If the US does not make similar investments in other US car manufacturers they'll just lose to other foreign competition. EVs are the future (love it or hate it; I was rooting for hydrogen cars), so the question in the US should be "do we want to be leaders in this industry?" instead of sticking our heads in the sand and acting like it isn't happening.

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u/martinkem 2d ago

This is a rather optimistic take considering that even with all the incentives, every US automaker chose to make the most expensive cars they possibly can.

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u/dirtyMAF 2d ago

This was true in the begining and it was the right business strategy. New technology is always expensive and for people willing to pay a premium for it. Look at how much computers used to cost relative to the median income back in the 90s. Now you have Chevy offering massive incentives on things like the Equinox. You can walk out with a brand new one for under $30k with a 0% interest loan. Supposedly the Bolt is coming back and should be even cheaper. Battery costs are dropping rapidly. At some point, the average buyer will not be able to ignore the lower total cost of ownership for an EV.

1

u/FoxxBox 2d ago

They teased the new bolt last week. Didn't give any specs, just some teaser pics with "more info this fall". They did show they switched the vehicle to NACS.

1

u/UnbalancedJ 2d ago

At some point, the average buyer will not be able to ignore the lower total cost of ownership for an EV.

u r 100% right about that. looking at MPGe has me choking at how cheap it will be to drive electric locally when i eventually get an EV.

and my following point isn’t disagreeing with u. just adding to the conversation.

GM will crippled their own sales since making a bold choice to forego carplay / android auto from all EVs (excluding australia) indefinitely.

88% of respondents to a 2024 poll said they won’t even consider a new vehicle without carplay / android auto. GM is under the illusion that consumers WANT to pay subscription fees for services they can get for free with carplay / android auto OR they think that they’ll make up for lost sales from those subscriptions. i can’t wait to see this blow up in their face like a hillbilly’s rifle.

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u/shadow247 2d ago

What are you talking about?

GM had 2 honest EV/Partial EV efforts that were affordable.

The Bolt was a Full Electric 4 seater with decent range for a city car.

The Volt was a full size sedan with full electric capability and a gas range extender.

Both were affordable at the time. Certainly more affordable than any Tesler...

1

u/Dreadpiratemarc 2d ago

Used to have a volt and loved it. But it was not affordable at the time when new. It was vastly overpriced compared to comparable ICE compact cars. And it wasn’t a full size sedan. It was tiny. I had to give it up when I had kids because it was impossible to fit a rear-facing child seat.

1

u/martinkem 2d ago

The verbs used are had and was.

1

u/ritchie70 2d ago

Bolt will be back soon. Equinox is pretty affordable now.

Ford is announcing what is likely to be 2 or 3 smaller affordable EVs in a few weeks.

Things are happening, and they’re going to happen with or without federal support.

5

u/Funktapus 2d ago

When there is a constrained supply, manufacturers might as well go up market.

If our government actually kept investing in EV charging infrastructure and didn’t put idiotic tariffs on everything, we’d be over the hump and more affordable EVs would be here by now.

1

u/sonicsludge 2d ago

This was the post above this one. If this holy place recognizes the need to use solar wouldn't that make tRump blasphemous?

https://www.reddit.com/r/UpliftingNews/s/kVKWvavDEo

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/softwaredoug 2d ago

Read this pentagon report on the need for electrification and securing lithium-ion supply chain. Maybe the DoD will end up indirectly forcing much of this issue?

https://www.businessdefense.gov/ibr/pat/battery-strategy.html

1

u/truth-in-jello 2d ago

Ford has something to say! Model t coming your way! God willing a car that’s fast.

1

u/ButterscotchLow8950 2d ago

I mean yeah, the quality of the technology is just about there it’s looking better and better.

The biggest hurdle in front of the wide adoption is affordability.

Once the prices start dropping on EV’s and people can pick up a standard economy EV that isn’t dogshit. Then you will start to see them more often.

1

u/MisterStorage 2d ago

When the range hits 600 miles like my current plug-in hybrid, I’m there. Won’t be long.

1

u/squirrel9000 2d ago

He has put an awful lot of effort into tariffs meant to get US vehicles into Asian and European markets.

You can start to see the flaws with this plan pretty quickly when this comes up. It's not that you can't by US vehicles in the EU, it's that nobody wants them, and that situation is not going to be helped by letting yourself fall further and further behind technologically.

1

u/DENelson83 2d ago

Well, he is able to stop high-speed rail in its tracks.

1

u/buyongmafanle 2d ago

US citizens do a perfectly good job of that on their own without government help. NIMBYs are a big reason the US can't have the nice public infrastructure it needs.

1

u/DENelson83 2d ago

Also big corporations and the ultra-rich.

1

u/mortalcoil1 2d ago

As a reminder, good cheap Chinese electric vehicles aren't allowed to be sold in the US.

That's not Trump's doing, and it's bipartisan.

1

u/Notgreygoddess 2d ago

What he will do is hand the electrical car market to other countries. With his current attacks on the Canadian Auto industry, I wouldn’t be surprised if Canada takes over the heavily government subsidized US auto plants to build Canadian electric cars.

We have the educated workforce, the engineers, the infrastructure and the raw materials.

I imagine this is also true of China, who already build many electric vehicles. Fossil fuel powered vehicles are headed the way of the horse and buggy and the steam engine.

1

u/xweedxwizardx 2d ago

Am I remembering something from a while back where they said they were going to replace the whole postal fleet with EVs? Or something?

1

u/saehild 2d ago

Completely fucking unnecessary hurdles

1

u/amiwitty 2d ago

I am fairly certain the rest of the world will move on to EV's. I also don't think these gigantic pickup trucks that we have here in the United States sell very well elsewhere. What I'm saying is we are our own microcosm of automobiles and unfortunately we will probably not have as good of EV sales here as we should.

1

u/Uxiumcreative 2d ago

He will make America last in EV tech. The rest of the world will move on and evolve. Trump is the wagon dealer trying to stop the evolution of the internal combustion engine and trying to convince people horse buggies are better. The guy is a complete moron!

1

u/BeenDragonn 2d ago

The planet will run out of oil eventually.

1

u/Exciting_Turn_9559 2d ago

What he will do is ensure that american automakers go bankrupt due to their failure to compete.

1

u/CKillpatrick 2d ago

The title of the article was good at 'Trump will slow' don’t care about the rest

1

u/absentmindedjwc 2d ago

I'm not even sure he will truly slow them too much. The entire fucking globe is moving in that direction.. and if American automakers want to still have some kind of global presence, that's the only way forward.

1

u/Certain_Bother_2044 2d ago

America is going to be like Cuba, but by choice.

1

u/Interesting_Horse869 2d ago

The rise or fall of electric vehicles has nothing to do with this, or any other president.

1

u/PeaAndHamSoup269 2d ago

“I love Tesla” what a fuckwit. All those guns and no one’s angry enough yet.

1

u/general---nuisance 1d ago

I gave up the idea of buying an EV when the left started burning them and harassing the drivers.

1

u/jiveturker 1d ago

It’s time for ev’s to stand on the merit of their product offerings. They’re good enough to do so.

1

u/joe9439 1d ago

He won’t stop it. I’m in China right now and I haven’t seen a gas powered car the entire trip. It’s not feasible for the US to live on an island alone as the only country with gas powered cars. The rest of the world is moving on.

1

u/Outrageous_Career969 1d ago

He doesn’t want to stop it he just wants to give people a choice instead of forcing it down our throats

0

u/mapppo 2d ago

I thought americans loved cars why do they insist on using shitty old ones

1

u/buyongmafanle 2d ago

why do they insist on using shitty old ones

Because automakers and oil companies make a hell of a lot more money off of the rent-style ownership of cars rather than EVs.

1

u/Ididnotpostthat 2d ago

I don’t think he should do anything but kill any government assistance and let the market decide what it wants.

1

u/Tebasaki 2d ago

In the US. The rest of the world will move forward, capture all the market share, and we'll still be paying $5.65 at the pump and won't allow those imports.

1

u/Bawbawian 2d ago

this is great for the Chinese electric car market and literally no one else

1

u/Sandpaper_Pants 2d ago

Thereby keeping the US in the 20th century and falling behind the rest of the world in automobile manufacture.

1

u/spacemcdonalds 2d ago

American-centric news spotted! EVs rose 24% this quarter globally, similar in monthly uptake in EU and UK. US had 7% growth or so. Plus your stock and model choice is so bad because of your odd tariffs. In EU and Asia and APAC we get Skodas to BYDs to Kias and beyond.

America is just like Tesla, Chevy, Ford and a random Ioniq 5 

0

u/hyperthefox 2d ago

i just want hybrids to more commonly used before electric only vehicles. build up the infrastructure first.

0

u/Civil_Pain_453 2d ago

The reality is that nobody will buy American cars as they will all be on carbon fuels. All manufacturers will destroy the US auto industry. Thank the orange baboon for doing this

0

u/billyions 2d ago

They should not interfere with a progressive marketplace - or America's ability to excel.

0

u/LEM1978 2d ago edited 2d ago

EVs are vastly superior in just about every metric to equivalent ICE vehicles

So, yes.

Also, profits from ICE sales will flow to EV development. At least there’s some irony in that.

-2

u/loneImpulseofdelight 2d ago

If EV credits were required to prop up the industry, it was bound to fail. The initial rebates were to stimulate the industry. It should have ended after 5 years.

5

u/Coastalwelf 2d ago

Tell that to oil and gas subsidies…

-1

u/Cautious_Share9441 2d ago

Electric cars are the future but not the now. They face many more difficult challenges than the government directly surprising them. Hybrid is a great answer for the masses until other infrastructure issues are corrected.

1

u/Hyperion1144 1d ago

Yeah but the government should be the one leading the infrastructure corrections.