Trump Plays His Old EV Bashing Hits... a Fact Check

If you missed or drifted off during the former President’s lengthy GOP nomination acceptance speech, it’s hard to say you missed much. Trump didn’t propose much in the way of policy, but he did touch on one of his old favorites: EV bashing.

After a recent hiatus of EV-bashing, coincidentally timed with Elon Musk pledging $45M to a pro-Trump SuperPAC, Donald Trump sang his old tune on EVs last night. And as usual with EVs, the former POTUS didn’t necessarily hit the truth nail on the head. In fact he missed it by quite a bit.

For example, Trump said he’d end the EV mandate on day one. Has anyone told this guy that this mandate doesn’t exist? To quote PBS’s fact-checker on the speech:

“There is no electric vehicle mandate to begin with.”

The Biden administration has set a goal — not a mandate — to have electric vehicles comprise half of all new vehicle sales by 2030.

Later in his speech, Trump said: “I am all for electric. … But if somebody wants to buy a gas-powered car… or a hybrid, they are going to be able to do it. And we’re going to make that change on Day 1. ” The Biden administration has introduced new regulations on gas-powered cars but those policies do not ban gas-powered cars. They can continue to be sold, even after 2030.”