EVs Have a ‘Republican Problem’ With Divide Deepening Ahead of Election

[Elderberry]

Bloomberg by Keith Laing and Alicia Tang 10/15/2024

Tucked between the onslaught of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris ads flooding Michigan’s airwaves ahead of the US election is a six-figure TV blitz that, on the surface, has nothing to do with politics. Rather, the 30-second spots are aimed at convincing swing-state voters of the merits of buying electric vehicles.

Forget the political noise,” the ad says, flashing photos of factory workers at car manufacturing plants over clips of Trump railing on EVs. “EVs mean good American jobs.”

Electric cars have a “Republican problem,” said longtime GOP strategist Mike Murphy, who started an advocacy group that has coordinated with carmakers to speed up adoption in red states where sales have lagged.

Murphy says even a recent influx of appearances from Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk alongside Trump hasn’t helped reverse decades of derision against plug-in vehicles and the former president’s pledge to end Joe Biden’s EV policies on “day one.”

“Unless we start getting Republicans to buy EVs, we’ll never get to the numbers” the Biden administration has proposed, Murphy said, referring to Biden’s pledge for electric cars to make up half of all US vehicle sales by 2030. Last year, they accounted for just 8%.

More: https://www.yahoo.com/news/evs-republican-problem-divide-deepening-100034458.html

[Wingnut]

Murphy says even a recent influx of appearances from Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk alongside Trump hasn’t helped reverse decades of derision against plug-in vehicles and the former president’s pledge to end Joe Biden’s EV policies on “day one.”

Why would anyone think it would?  Woke, city dwelling greenie virtue signaling jurno's just don't get it.

[Kamaji]

EV cars have physics and economics problems.  As well as problems of general hypocrisy.

[Smokin Joe]

Look at the electoral map. Republican dominated areas tend to be rural which is the environment least well suited to EV use.
Democrats tend to live in urban hives and the urban rim, where trips are short, power is generally steady (not subject to long outages like rural areas), and charging stations have been constructed.

The base problem isn't political, it's geographic, which brings with it issues of range, ability to charge, load capacity, reliability in times of crisis, in a physical environment that is unforgiving in inclement weather, or just by virtue of climate.
All physics and economics aside, one size does not fit all, and EVs are less suitable for rural applications than ICE powered vehicles as a rule.