How to Move Transportation Electrification Forward Under Trump

The return of Donald Trump as President is going to make the transition to clean electric transportation much more uncertain and challenging. As a community, here are some of the things we need to do well if we’re going to continue to make progress:

·? Make sure EV investments are spent well. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act provided the largest investments in clean electric transportation in a generation or more. Federal spending takes time to reach the ground, and most of these dollars are just about to start getting spent. Now, more than ever, we need to ensure they are spent wisely and leveraged highly, because (1) it is quite likely we won’t see more for some time and (2) critics will be actively looking for examples of ineffective spending as an excuse to claw back funds and head off future investments.?

·? Make a case beyond climate change.? Too often, advocates for transportation electrification have relied solely on arguments about how critical it is to addressing global climate change. It is, but that’s never been the strongest or most popular reason to support this transition. Now, more than ever, we need to focus on other arguments. For starters: this transition is creating thousands of jobs, largely in conservative “red” states.? Helping the US transportation industry make this transition is also critical to global competitiveness: China, Europe, and the rest of the world are committed to going electric and are already ahead of us. Tariffs might buy time, but will not hold back technology advancement forever. Electrification will also reduce our dependence on imported oil, lower transportation and maintenance costs, promote resilience to natural disasters, and keep more money circulating in our local economies. We need to lean into all of these arguments harder.

·? Win hearts and minds. Most Americans have never seen or driven an electric car, and polling consistently shows most Americans say they don’t believe electric cars are for people like them. Change is scary, and people resist it, especially when it’s unfamiliar. Too often, our industry’s response has been focused on the push for stronger regulations, more charging stations, or larger rebates – rather than addressing these concerns head-on. Now, more than ever, we need to demonstrate how electric vehicles can make transportation cheaper, easier, faster and more convenient for regular working people. The more people experience electric mobility, the more they support it.

?·? Work with the willing. Rather than pushing every community in America to go electric, it’s time to focus on the “coalition of the willing.” Over a dozen states representing over a third of the US auto market have adopted California’s strict emission standards and electrification targets, and an even larger number offer financial incentives for electric vehicles. Dozens of utilities and communities across the country are using federal grant funds and their own money to accelerate transportation electrification. There is plenty of work for us to do in those states and regions, to demonstrate how to make this transition work well and benefit those who need affordable clean mobility the most. When other states and communities are ready to follow suit, they will benefit from this early work.

·? Build alliances. While we focus on helping communities that want to go electric, we need to resist the urge to further polarize or draw battle lines with other communities or interest groups. We need to do our best to avoid making electric vehicles even more of a partisan issue. There are lots of reasons to love electric vehicles, and lots of strategies for going electric, and we need to seek out those unusual alliances. This is one of the great things about democracy at its best – it forces us to understand and reason with diverse people who disagree with us. For the sake of our industry – and, yes, for the sake of our planet – we need to model that now.

What do you think about this to-do list? Do you have other ideas about how we move transportation electrification forward in the coming years? Share your thoughts in the comments below…and in the months to come.

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