Donald Trump was really whipping up the crowd.
The former president, who is facing 91 charges across four separate cases, was in South Carolina earlier this month, and he took time to express his feelings about electric vehicles.
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“The gas is going up, everybody. The cars are going to have to get smaller, and then they’re forcing you into all-electric,” the GOP's frontrunner for the presidential nomination said, according to The State. “Does everybody like the idea of all-electric and you can drive for one hour?”
The crowded responded with a hearty "no!"
Later, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, who supports Trump, pointed out that while he is no fan of federal mandates, "we realize, and I think the former president realizes as well, that there’s a huge market out there for electric vehicles.”
Resistance to Electric Vehicles Rises in Some States
South Carolina has awarded hundreds of millions of dollars of incentives to help electric vehicle projects take place in the state.
It seems like a good idea. The federal Inflation Reduction Act, passed last year, included tax credits of up to $7,500 for people who purchase electric vehicles assembled in North America.
In addition, electric vehicles of all types will account for as much as 29% of new light-duty-vehicle sales in the U.S. by 2050, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Nevertheless, resistance to electric vehicle in several states has been significant.
Some states, like California, Washington and Massachusetts, have adopted rules that will ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035, Others, such Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Utah, have passed taxes on EV charging.
Connecticut Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, a Republican, said California emissions standards are too radical for his state.
“The legislature is the body that needs to be vested with this decision, not California,” he said, according to WHSU.
Texas, Tesla's (TSLA) -) home state, will start charging electric-vehicle drivers an additional fee of $200 each year starting Sept. 1
Anyone buying a new electric vehicle and have to pay two years of registration, or $400, up front -- even though Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has expressed support for Republicans.
Texas Says EVs Cost the State Gasoline Taxes
Texas agencies estimated that the state lost an average of $200 per year in federal and state gasoline tax dollars when an electric vehicle replaced a gas-fueled one and said the fee was “the most straightforward” remedy.
"We recognized some time ago that each time an all-electric vehicle does get on the road and displaces a gasoline or diesel vehicle that the state highway fund loses money,” Republican Sen. Robert Nichols said earlier this year, according to KXAN.
“So the object here is to try to identify how much money do we lose on both state and federal and try to make that up with a fee adjustment," he said.
Rachel Goldstein, a research and modeling manager at Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology, told Politico that the fee "will likely have adverse impacts on [EV] market growth, even if the economics don’t change substantially.”
Like so many things today, EV preference breaks down along party lines.
A Gallup poll in April found 71% of Republicans said they would not consider owning an electric vehicle, whereas 54% of Democrats said they would consider getting an EV.
Americans aged 35 to 54 are more likely than those younger and older to already own or be seriously considering buying an electric vehicle. Young adults 18-34 are most likely to say they might buy one in the future.
Overall, the poll found that Americans’ adoption of electric vehicles is proving to be slow, as relatively few currently own one or are seriously considering purchasing one.
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