Detroit: If President-elect Donald Trump makes good on his threat to kill federal tax credits for electric vehicle purchases, it’s likely that fewer buyers will choose EVs.
Yet tax credits or not, auto companies show no intention of retreating from a steady transition away from gas-burning cars and trucks, especially given the enormous investment they have already made: Since 2021, the industry has spent at least $160 billion on planning, designing and building electric vehicles, according to the Centre for Auto Research. In campaigning for the presidency, Trump condemned the federal tax for EV buyers — up to $7,500 per vehicle — as part of a “green new scam” that would devastate the auto industry. His transition team is reportedly working on plans to abolish the tax credits and to roll back the more stringent fuel-economy rules that were pushed through by the Biden administration.
It is far from clear, though, that the Trump administration could actually rescind the credits.
