Republicans’ abrupt withdrawal of support for electric vehicles puts the U.S. on trajectory to become a lackluster EV market even as China becomes even more dominant, according to a new report by BloombergNEF.
While drivers around the world are buying more EVs — the report projects that 1 in 4 cars made this year will be electric — the U.S. reversal is so thorough that it still bends the world market downward.
The current year “is the first year where we have reduced both our near-term and long-term passenger EV adoption outlook,” BNEF said in its annual EV outlook. “Policy changes in the U.S. are the biggest factor.”
The biggest difference-makers, BNEF said, are the watering down of national fuel-economy rules, the drastic cutbacks in EV subsidies being contemplated by Republicans in Congress, and the legal fog surrounding California’s requirement that automakers sell lots of EVs.
