On NewsNation's “The Hill” Tuesday, Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) said Ford's move away from electric vehicles doesn't mean we should rethink the EV push; in fact, “quite the opposite.”
Host Blake Berman asked: “This push, EV, EV, EV, EV, has been going on for over a decade, mostly from Democrats and clean energy advocates. Is it time to rethink this, given what we just heard from Ford, who said, well, wait a minute, we need to pivot now?”
Stanton responded: “No, quite the opposite. First of all, Elon Musk is not a Democrat. And support for electric vehicles has really been across the board. And Congress voted in favor of the Inflation Reduction Act, which is the largest investment in green and clean energy, including support for the electric vehicle industry, in American history. And Trump comes on board and, I think, for political reasons, decides to take us in the opposite direction. We are in a battle with China on so many key issues. [industries]including the electric vehicle industry, and the repeal of the Inflation Relief Act programs caused Ford to lose those jobs because, remember, when they make this decision, they decide to lose $20 billion, including new factories, to support the electric vehicle industry.”
Berman then asked, “I just heard Jim Farley, the head of Ford, say that customers have spoken, and we listen to customers. 74,000 new units were sold last month. Of course, we know that government subsidies ended at the end of September, resulting in a 49% drop in sales compared to the previous month, which is 30% less than last year. Isn’t it the client speaking here?”
Stanton responded, “A few. But, as you know, we made a decision in Congress to support this industry with tax breaks to make electric vehicle prices a little more affordable, and electric vehicle sales were off the charts. They were doing very, very well. And now, with Trump there, everything is going back and forth, back and forth. The industry is in chaos. So they probably got angry and said no to it. Look, we need to support the green and clean energy industry, including the industry.” electric vehicles. It's important for the United States to be a leader on this. We can't unilaterally disarm, if you will, let China control this market around the world. And we need all of our major players now. We can't – Ford can make business decisions.
Stanton added that investment in electric vehicle chargers is needed so people can feel confident buying and driving electric vehicles.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
