Donald Trump’s criticism of electric vehicles looks likely to lead to the end of government subsidies for consumers who buy them, boosting Elon Musk’s Tesla by hitting its rivals with greater losses.
The president-elect has said EVs would spell “complete obliteration” for the US car industry, even as adoption for the vehicles has climbed in other parts of the world, particularly China. Trump said in July when he accepted the Republican nomination that he would “end the electric vehicle ‘mandate’ on day one”, referencing proposed emissions rules that President Joe Biden’s administration had eased four months earlier.
While Tesla is making money from its EVs, rivals’ losses on them have been narrowed by consumer tax credits worth up to $7,500 under Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.