The incoming Trump The administration has even more plans to delay the adoption of electric vehicles than previously thought. According Reuterswho has seen transition team documents, Trump’s team wants to abolish subsidies for electric vehicles, restore federal funding for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, block imports of electric vehicle batteries on national security grounds, and prevent the federal government and the US military from purchasing more electric vehicles.
During the campaign, candidate Trump made repeated references to ending a purported electric vehicle mandate. In fact, policies implemented by President Joe Biden only require that 50 percent of all new vehicles be electrified by 2032 under US Environmental Protection Agency rules. aimed at reducing emissions by 56 percent from 2026 levels.
Instead, the new regime will be much friendlier to gas guzzling, as it aims to roll back EPA fuel efficiency standards to those in effect in 2019. This would increase the allowable level of auto emissions by about a 25 percent relative to the current rule. place. New vehicle efficiency in the US stagnated between 2008 and 2019and it wasn’t until the Biden administration began in 2021 that the EPA began instituting stricter rules on the allowable limits of carbon dioxide and other pollutants from vehicle tailpipes.
About a third of the population turns to the California Air Resources Board, rather than the EPA, for their emissions regulations.
The so-called ZEV (for zero-emission vehicles) states have something closer to an electric vehicle mandate, and as of model year 2026 in these states (California, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada , New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington) and the District of Columbia, a third of all new cars sold by every automaker will have to be battery electric, assuming the EPA grants California a waiver to allow this to happen.
As happened with the first Trump administrationWe can expect a sustained attack on California’s ability to set its own vehicle emissions regulations and any attempts by other states to use those regulations.
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Clearly, trade tariffs will be a major weapon of the incoming Trump administration, particularly when implemented to block the manufacturing of electric vehicles. Even the current administration has been cautious enough about China ditching cheap EVs to they instituted singeing fees in electric vehicles and Chinese-made batteries, with bipartisan support congressional.
Biden’s tariffs were justified on economic grounds as a way to defend American industry against an unfair level of state support from China for its own automakers. Trump’s team plans to use national security as justification for its own barriers to EV imports, using article 232 of the Commercial Expansion Law.
But according to documents seen by Reuters, tariffs on battery materials will be applied globally, something that should significantly increase the cost of a new electric vehicle. The transition team plans to allow individual countries to try to negotiate exemptions to the tariffs, Reuters wrote.
No more tax credit, no more public chargers
While the Trump team’s plan aims to boost U.S. auto manufacturing over imports, a key tool to force greater local production of electric vehicles will also not be long in coming to this world. as we thoughtThe $7,500 clean vehicle tax credit will be eradicated once Trump takes office.
But according to Reuters, Trump’s transition team also plans to take back most of the 7.5 billion dollars allocated for charging infrastructure implemented by Congress as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Much of this money has not been spentdue to the long lead times involved. Instead of being disbursed directly by the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, the funds were allocated through the states, in the same manner as highway funds. As such, there could be significant amounts of this program that will never be completed.
One idea from Trump’s team could speed up the rollout of electric vehicle chargers: The incoming administration intends to eliminate environmental reviews required for projects like charging stations.
Other rules and regulations intended to protect the public will also be eliminated, including one that requires all automakers to report to the government when one of their vehicles crashes while operating with partial automation, such as Tesla’s Autopilot. This standing order has caused Tesla a lot of pain after more than 1,500 accidents, with multiple injuries and deaths, and Tesla’s opposition The requirement is widely known.
Finally, the US government fleet can be expected to become more polluting. Currently, the federal government must purchase more electric vehicles to replace aging vehicles, with a requirement that all light-duty vehicles be zero-emission by 2027. This will no longer be the case under Trump, who will also end any Department of Transportation programs. Defense that are intended to purchase or develop electric military vehicles.
This story originally appeared on Ars Technique.