On Tuesday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “The Hill,” Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ) said Ford’s withdrawal of electric vehicles doesn’t mean we should reconsider the EV push, in fact, “quite the opposite.”
Host Blake Berman asked, “For over a decade there was this pressure, EV, EV, EV, EV, much of it from Democrats and green energy-aligned people. Is it time to reconsider this, as we just heard from Ford saying, OK, wait a minute, we have to move now?”
Stanton responded, “No, quite the contrary. First of all, Elon Musk is no Democrat. And support for EVs was really across the board. And Congress voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, which is the largest investment in green and clean energy in American history, including supporting the EV industry. And Trump comes on board, and, for political reasons, I think, decides to move us in the opposite direction. We’re in a fight with China on a number of major issues. [industries]By eliminating programs, including the EV industry, and on the Inflation Reduction Act, this has resulted in Ford losing these jobs, because, remember, when they make this decision, they are choosing to lose $20 billion, including new factories, to support the EV industry.
Berman then asked, “I just heard Jim Farley, the head of Ford, say that the customers have spoken, and we listen to the customers. I’m looking at 74,000 new units sold last month. Of course, we know that government subsidies ended at the end of September, which led to a 49% decline in sales month over month, a 30% decline over last year. Is the customer not speaking here? Is it?”
Stanton responded, “To some extent. But, as you know, we made a decision in Congress to support this industry through tax credits to make the price of EV vehicles a little more affordable, and EV sales were going through the roof. They were going very, very well. And, now, with Trump, it’s gone back and forth, back and forth. It’s chaos in the industry. So, maybe, they got upset and they didn’t do that.” Look, we need to support green energy, including the electric vehicle industry. We can’t let China take over this market if you want – any policy decision we made to support the industry got taken away.
Stanton said investment in EV chargers is needed so people can feel confident buying and driving an EV.
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