What To Expect For EVs In 2025
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Now that 2025 is here, it’s time to look ahead at the coming year. In some ways, it’s going to be a continuation of things that kicked off in 2023 and 2024. But, in other ways, we may be in for some serious departures from the status quo.
Politics
Like many people, I wouldn’t be very interested in politics if it wasn’t interested in me and mine. Making sure that our public servants don’t turn us into servants, take our freedom away, and destroy our planet for their own short-term benefits is essential. But, it isn’t always easy to protect the human race from its most narcissistic and charismatic members. Often, politics devolves into a food fight over who gets to win and be free and who gets to lose and be abused, with excesses and authoritarian impulses on all sides.
Like Trump or hate him, his coalition managed to win the 2024 election, and this will affect a broad variety of things starting in just under three weeks. How this affects EVs and the overall clean technology scene has yet to be seen, but we do have some clues from Project 2025 (something Trump openly embraces again now), and from other news.
EV Charging
Recently, transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg announced that the U.S. had about 200,000 public EV charging ports. This is a little under halfway to Biden’s stated goal of getting to 500,000 ports. Had Biden enjoyed two terms or had he been able to pass the baton off to Vice President Harris, this goal was fairly achievable, especially with funding from the Infrastructure Bill’s NEVI program.
Federal funding to meet this goal is now in peril. The Infrastructure Bill is likely to be amended or repealed by a Republican House, Republican Senate, and Republican White House. Funds already sent to states are unlikely to be clawed back, and existing stations will continue to operate in most cases. But new construction using funds that had not already been sent to the states might not happen now.
Fortunately, we’re seeing a variety of private entities pick up the slack. Tesla, obviously, continues to expand its charging footprint. iONNA, a company operated by coalition of seven automakers, is getting started. Other automakers and charging providers are doing their own partnerships to get stations in the ground.
Global Pressure (Especially From China)
As much as people like Trump would love to scuttle EVs, that’s not going to be as easy as it once looked. Not only is there pressure from Elon Musk (who has become a key figure of the Republican Party), but there’s also the fact that automakers aren’t going to be excited about going back to the fossil fuel past.
While automakers would probably like some more time to transition to electric drive, they know that the rest of the world is already moving. China has become a dominant figure in the global automotive industry. European automakers are also moving ahead with electric. To assume that Trump’s election and threats to subsidies means that automakers can pull out of EVs would be to invite long-term disaster.
Ultimately, this will mean that automakers continue EV efforts, including investing in EV charging. Trump and the less forward thinking Republicans may think they can stop clean technologies, but ultimately, the economic forces involved will make their efforts little more than a speed bump.
Featured image by Jennifer Sensiba.
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