Trump (Musk) + EV Adoption
There's an excellent chance that Trump kills the tax credit for buying an EV (with Musk's encouragement). But you know what? My wife and I don't each have an EV and I didn’t want to start working in the EV space because I was excited about Federal tax credits.?
I started working in EV space because my entire adult live I’ve been focused on how we get off fossil fuels for electricity generation and transportation. I’m passionate about this topic and if it’s not evident by my Linkedin profile or career history you can surely speak to any single person who personally knows me or read one of my 75 newsletter posts or over 500 blog posts on the topic (most over a decade old).?
In addition, I like working in the EV space because one of the reasons I wanted to become a mechanical engineer is because cars and transportation are cool. As an intern in 2004 I worked at the USA BMW manufacturing plant in Spartanburg, SC and at that time they had a hydrogen fuel cell 7 series...and that was two decades ago! That car was cool (despite hydrogen not being practical for passenger vehicles) and "Performance Driver's Training" that we got to do was cool and the ride in the M5 on the slip track was VERY cool.
The point is that in addition to believing EVs are the future because they’re better for the environment (hard stop) I also believe, as an engineer and a driver, that EVs offer a superior driving experience. Driving an EV is cool. And I mean driving as the majority of drivers of light duty passenger vehicles experience it (driving to work, school , store, etc). They are more fun and quicker and quieter and smoother under adaptive cruise control / assisted self driving (no turbo , transmission lag). Of course FSD is a story for a different time...
And if EV drivers have easy access to EV charging where they live, work, or shop ( Sona Energy Solutions helps businesses with this) then EVs are simply more convenient than ICE vehicles. Not to mention reduced trips to dealer or shop for maintenance.
So when world events occur outside of my control that create new fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) , it helps to remind myself why I’m doing this (environment, belief that EVs offer better driving experience, convenience). And while we're all entitled to our own opinions and emotions, facts are something entirely different. And facts are backed by data...so let's look at some data.
I referenced the chart shown in the header image (and below) in a recent post about EV adoption as a % of America's new car sales, and I love that chart (created by Atlas EV Hub ). If our goal is to track how EV sales perform under Trump and possible elimination of the EV tax credit, I cant think of a better chart to demonstrate performance.
Forget all the media talk of declining EV sales because :
1) The way I read that chart is Q2 of 2024 represented the highest ever % of new car sales being EV so could somebody maybe be lying because they have ulterior motives?
2) There's a reason most media is created and published by liberal arts majors, who are famously worse at math and data than engineers (I kid I kid, but I swear to God if I see one more of y'all get confused by the difference in kW and kWh I'm going to....)
But in all seriousness, if a claim is to be made on the performance of EV sales, let's at least all agree on the data that is backing that claim, and let's publicly call out (I mean respectfully and in a way that allows a response to defend their stance) journalists and publications and politicians who make claims THAT AREN'T BACKED UP BY RELEVANT DATA.
To that end, let's all agree on the data sources and charts used to show performance of EV sales AS A % OF NEW CAR SALES.
I would love to partner with an organization to make this data free, public, and easily accessible each quarter (I'll happily host it on this page) so please reach out if you'd like to partner. I'm simply looking for the same or similar chart as shown at the head of this post updated quarterly.
Information I found doing research for this post:
Organizations who help with the data:
Billing Solutions | Energy-Utilities | EV | Legal Expertise
2 天前sales numbers can be slippery; data clarity matters. let’s challenge misleading narratives respectfully
Building the industry-leading #EVcharging network | Founder at Kilows | Technology Entrepreneur | Pilot | 12 patents
2 天前What exactly is the “Southeast”? Is reliable, complete and regular data available from this region?
Advocate for Truth
6 天前I believe the real driving force behind the curtailment of BEV is the legacy automobile and legacy gas and oil industry. together, they represent more than $100 trillion of political operative influence against this emerging tech.
Founder of The EV Universe | Weekly EV Industry Reports. Connect with me if you're an EV geek like me.
6 天前One of the core reasons why I started creating global EV sales reports myself, going after 100% of the data myself. The other reason is for others to provide it as something to pull out of their back pocket when needed to fight exactly what you described.
Head of Business Development at Sunlight Energy Investments
6 天前I agree about how great EVs are for the environment. On a personal note, I drove several EVs and didn’t like the quietness of the drive. I love the roughness of feeling the road. Plus. I do enough for renewables so I still love my gas car. Now, what I love about my car is that I can get gas anywhere and everywhere. I think the US & World have a shortage of charging stations to the amount of current EVs and I see a huge problem if sales continue but infrastructure does not keep pace.