Dems learn their EV policy unpopular with voters

 Washington Post:

Just two years ago, Senate Democrats banded together to push through sweeping legislation aimed at combating climate change in part by speeding the transition to electric vehicles with tax credits and other incentives.

But now, facing a tough reelection climate in November, some Senate Democrats who are fighting for their political lives in red states are distancing themselves from aspects of President Biden’s EV policies as Republicans go on offense against Biden’s environmental agenda.

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has made bashing EVs a cornerstone of his campaign, effectively turning them into culture war fodder in an election year. Meanwhile, a fossil fuel industry group is pouring millions of dollars in ads in swing states tying Democratic senators to Biden’s EV push.

Trump has vowed to roll back Biden’s electric vehicle efforts and warned “you’re not going to be able to sell those cars” if he becomes president.

Biden required automakers to ramp up sales of EVs while slashing carbon emissions from gasoline-powered models, which account for about one-fifth of America’s contribution to global warming, in tough new emissions standards. Automakers will not need to dramatically boost EVs sales until after 2030, a concession to car manufacturers who worried about a faster timeline initially proposed by Biden.

The electric vehicle, or EV, issue combines several potent political ingredients — China, class warfare and what the GOP will probably describe as a spending spree by Congress. The policy’s defenders point out the EV transition is crucial to slowing the worst effects of climate change and note the tens of millions of dollars of investment in EV-related factories in the United States, which should create high-paying manufacturing jobs.

It is an easy attack line for Trump, however, who called the Biden regulations “ridiculous” in a recent meeting with oil industry executives who he brazenly asked to raise $1 billion for his campaign.

At a rally in Las Vegas earlier this month, Trump went on a lengthy rant against electric-powered boats, saying he would have trouble knowing what to do if the boat was sinking in shark-infested waters. “Do I get electrocuted if the boat is sinking, water goes over the battery, the boat is sinking? Do I stay on top of the boat and get electrocuted, or do I jump over by the shark and not get electrocuted?” he asked.

“I’ll take electrocution every single time,” he said. “I’m not getting near the shark.”

Last week, Trump told Senate Republicans behind closed doors he would “get rid of” Biden’s “disastrous” EV policy if he’s elected president, according to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo).

Some Democrats in particularly tough races are distancing themselves from aspects of Biden’s policies. The issue has become so politicized that data shows more Democrats than Republicans are buying EVs.

In May, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) introduced a bipartisan Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn the Biden administration’s decision to allow components of EV batteries to be made in China, putting an exclamation point on his weeks of criticism of the Biden administration’s stance toward EVs.
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I have no interest in owning an EV.  I live out in the country several miles from any charging station.  I have no such rage anxiety with my For F-150 which can go about 500 miles on a tank of gas.