Joe Biden never said, “If you like your gas-powered car, you can keep your gas-powered car,” in the manner of his former boss dissembling to the American people about doctors and Obamacare. Instead, candidate Biden said the quiet part out loud to a CNN town hall in 2019. We need to “get internal-combustion-engine vehicles off the road,” he said. Once in office, he followed through with executive orders and policy changes that aimed to do just that. The White House proposed strict carbon dioxide emissions rules that would force carmakers to slash production of gas-powered vehicles over the next few years. Biden also signed legislation allocating billions to building new charging stations, subsidizing battery factories, and granting some car buyers rebates of up to $7,500 when they buy an EV.
For a time, it looked as if Biden’s EV boom was starting to materialize. Fully battery-powered electric vehicles—BEVs—commanded nearly 8 percent of U.S. light-duty vehicle sales last year, up from about 2 percent when Biden took office. And U.S. carmakers have poured tens of billions into ramping up their EV production lines. But for the EV revolution to continue, electric vehicles must grow their appeal beyond early adopters and catch on with mainstream car buyers. In a 2022 Tech Commentary column, I observed that EVs were niche vehicles purchased mostly by affluent buyers looking for a high-tech (and high-status) second or third car. “But the administration is fooling itself if it thinks most Americans are itching to become part of the EV elite,” I wrote.
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James B. Meigs is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a City Journal contributing editor, cohost of the How Do We Fix It? podcast, and the former editor of Popular Mechanics
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