The Biden administration’s rollout of a new rule that will juice sales of electric vehicles is drawing praise from environmentalists, a powerful union and even the carmakers who will have to build and sell the cars.
Now, it just needs to convince skeptical Americans.
U.S. drivers’ demand for electric vehicles has waned somewhat in recent months, leading to a mounting inventory of new models on car dealers’ lots that has prompted some carmakers like Ford, GM and Mercedes to walk back production targets. And opinion polls have shown that many Americans are interested in the vehicles, but they don’t back government rules that would phase out gas and diesel cars.
The future of electric vehicles has emerged as one of the fiercest political fights between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. The likely Republican nominee has been trying to win over workers in the critical swing state of Michigan by warning of a “bloodbath” for the auto industry from the transition to the new vehicles and has called for electric vehicle supporters to “rot in hell.”
