CHARLOTTE — On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump made it clear that he does not believe electric vehicles are the future of American transportation.
He’s claimed EVs “don’t work,” lambasted the industry for killing American auto manufacturing, and in his speech at the Republican National Convention, he promised to “end the electric vehicle mandate on day one.”
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The United States does not have an electric vehicle mandate. Several states have set requirements requiring a certain percentage of new vehicles sold in that state be “zero emissions vehicles” by the early 2030s. Additionally, the Biden Administration pushed for tailpipe emissions rules that would essentially require 56% of new vehicle sales to be EVs by 2032. This is likely what Trump is referring to.
Trump has also heavily criticized the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed in 2022 without a single Republican vote, bringing billions in tax credits, grants, and other subsidies to incentivize clean energy manufacturing in the United States.
Impact in the Carolinas
Billions of those dollars poured into the Carolinas as dozens of companies announced major manufacturing projects over the next two years, most of which were in the battery and EV sector.
Bob Keefe, the executive director of the nonpartisan organization E2 has been tracking clean manufacturing investments across the country and has noticed a disproportionate amount of projects, particularly EV and battery projects, concentrating in three states, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
“Nearly half of those have been in the Southeast, and many of them within a few hours drive from Charlotte along the I-85, I-40 corridor,” he said.
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From a lithium mining project in Kings Mountain to refining facilities in the Piedmont to a battery plant in Liberty to EV factories in South Carolina, Keefe said companies have invested in nearly every step of the EV manufacturing supply chain, promising thousands of jobs.
The problem is most of these projects have broken ground but won’t get up and running until at least next year when a new Trump administration takes the reins.
“If we shift the country back to one that is solely shackled to oil and gas and fossil fuels and stop supporting the growth of electric vehicles clean energy, then there are few places that are going to be more hurt than the Carolinas,” Keefe said.
Uncertainty among businesses
Channel 9′s Michelle Alfini spoke with some of the emerging businesses in the local battery industry who did not want to be identified. They say in the wake of the election, the mood is uncertain. They’d like to see if and how Trump will follow through on his promises before changing any long-term plans.
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South Carolina’s EV Coordinator, who works to bring these businesses to the state, declined an interview on the subject, but the Department of Commerce released a statement saying: “As a state agency, S.C. Commerce’s focus is to continue to pursue its mission to create economic opportunities to increase choices for all South Carolinians. We remain a committed partner to companies across all industries that have chosen South Carolina to establish or expand operations.”
What about tariffs?
Despite his criticism of the legislation that brought clean energy manufacturing and his professed skepticism of climate change in general, Trump has also promised to build up American manufacturing. His primary strategy is tariffs. He campaigned on a 20% blanket tariff on all U.S. imports and 60% tariffs on imports from China.
Dr. Parminder Jassal, the CEO of the advanced manufacturing recruiting firm Unmudl, said tariffs could provide an initial boost, even to clean energy manufacturing, but for sustainable industry growth, it cannot be the only strategy.
“Tariffs result in an immediate uplift in jobs here in America because all of a sudden it becomes really important to invest locally,” she said. “However, it could compromise long-term government stability just because of the financial returns … so buying power goes up, but as you bring all of that back then the prices start increasing.”
She believes stable economic policy requires a balance of targeted, temporary tariffs as well as consumer-facing and manufacturing tax credits. Whichever strategy is best, depends on where the industry currently stands.
“Getting from innovation to infrastructure requires different strategies all along the way,” she said.
Room for bipartisanship?
As for how much power a second Trump administration would have to unravel the Biden administration’s clean energy policy, things like removing the tailpipe emissions standards could disappear with the stroke of a pen, but most policies enshrined in the IRA would take legislation to repeal.
Republicans will have control of the Senate and likely a narrow majority in the House, but they still may not have the votes for a full IRA repeal, given how many projects have been announced in Republican districts. During the last session, eighteen Republican lawmakers wrote a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson asking him to protect many of the manufacturing incentives, should Republicans attempt to pare back the law.
In the meantime, Keefe said he’s frustrated this has to be a political battle in the first place and urges the incoming Trump administration to see this emerging industry as a bipartisan economic opportunity.
“If you don’t like it just because the previous administration came up with it then change it,” he said. “But don’t stop the policies that we know are working right now.”
VIDEO: More businesses are using electric vehicles
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