But in 2024, amidst inflation, higher interest rates, and a series of
negative news items
–capped by a
cold spell
that made a mockery of EVs as all-weather transportation—”EVthusiasm” has, well, cooled.
An abandoned electric car is buried in snow in Draper, Utah, on February 23, 2023. (GEORGE FREY/AFP via Getty Images)
Most notably, two Republican Members of Congress were
icy.
They were Reps. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania and Roger Williams of Texas.
At a bipartisan panel at the show, Kelly—himself a car dealer prior to Congress—said the whole idea of EVs was a “false narrative.”
They only sell, he jibed, with huge federal subsidies.
For his part, Williams ripped the feds for “trying to shove EVs down our throats.”
Instead, he continued, Americans should be free to buy what they want to buy.
The two Democrat Members of Congress on the panel were taken aback by the ferocity of the GOP assault.
Reps.
Debbie Dingell of Michigan and Marcy Kaptur of Ohio both objected, but their objections actually contradicted each other.
On the one hand, they said, the Europeans were way ahead on EVs, and we Americans need to catch up with them.
On the other hand, they also said EVs represent an opportunity for American leadership.
So which is it?
Are we behind or ahead?
Either way, Democrats firmly believe that green energy is the
wave of the future
, and so it’s wrong, just
wrong
, to try and stop progress—as progressives define progress.
Kelly jabbed back,
The Europeans should follow us.
Members of Congress attend a panel discussion at the Washington, DC, auto show on January 18, 2024. From left to right: Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), discussion moderator Dafna Linzer, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Rep. Bob Latta, (R-OH), and Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX). (James Pinkerton/Breitbart News)
From left to right: Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH), Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX), and Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) participate in a panel discussion at the Washington, DC, auto show on January 18, 2024, in Washington, DC. (James Pinkerton/Breitbart News)
Important differences of opinion were illuminated in the give-and-take, which ran well past the program’s allotted time.
Democrats tend to admire the green nanny-statism of Europe, but Republicans don’t.
Arguably, most Americans agree with the GOP: Here in the US of A, we like gas cars, guns, and smaller government.
Williams further argued that EVs are an opportunity for
Chinese
leadership since the communist regime has commanded its economy to produce “green” technology—batteries, solar panels—that it can sell to the West.
That production, of course, is based on
burning coal
, which is the cheapest fuel.
Yes, it’s weird: China dirties up itself (and the world) so it can sell us “clean” goods.
(Coal can be made clean, but you have to clean it.)
In fact, the communist regime manufactures so much non-green greenery that it needs to
dump
it.
According to economic analyst Michael Dunne,
writing
in
Automotive News
, “Chinese automakers are awash in excess capacity and a bloody price war at home. They need access to Europe and the U.S. to be profitable.”
For the most part, Biden administration policy says to China, “Bring it.”
The president has signed
executive orders
and
memoranda
calling for net zero by 2030 or 2035. (That’s net zero for the U.S., not, of course, for China.)
A
nd no, Biden didn’t set these targets in consultation with Congress—Congress wasn’t consulted. The 46th president has taken the same view as the 44th president, Barack Obama, who said, back in 2014, that he could make policy with
“a pen and a phone.”
That is, bypass Congress and rely on the administrative state.
One problem with this approach: It lacks
legitimacy
. The president’s policy is greatly strengthened if it has been affirmed by Congress.
That’s been the story of both Obama’s 2010 healthcare plan and Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cut.
Both were strongly opposed by the other side, and yet since they were written into statute, they have survived the many political assaults since.
A second problem is that unilateral executive actions tend to lack
popularity
.
If the idea were popular, Congress would likely want to pass it.
Yet EVs aren’t in that people-pleasing category.
Just on January 19, in the latest setback for electrics, Ford
announced
that it was shrinking its EV production while expanding internal combustion engine (ICE) output.
President Joe Biden drives the new electric Ford F-150 Lightning at the Ford Dearborn Development Center in Dearborn, Michigan, on May 18, 2021. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)
What’s ahead?
These days, the crystal ball is more likely to be two lenses; one red, one blue.
So, b
oth red ICE and blue EVs could be around for a while, albeit clustered in different parts of the country.
Two hues to see the future through.
Thankfully, those two Republicans at the auto show want us to have a choice.
We’ll see if they get invited back in 2025.