FILE - Tesla Cybertrucks are displayed at the AutoMobility LA Auto Show, Nov. 21, 2024, in Los Angeles. FILE - Unsold 2024 electric Lyriq utility vehicles sit in a row outside a Cadillac dealership on June 2, 2024, in Lone Tree, Colo. FILE - A line of unsold 2024 Mustang Mach-E electric utility vehicles sit at a Ford dealership May 19, 2024, in Denver. FILE - Tesla Cybertrucks are displayed at the AutoMobility LA Auto Show, Nov. 21, 2024, in Los Angeles.
Trump’s argument — one that most economists dispute — is that a rapid U.S. shift toward electric vehicles would lead to most EVs being made in China and would swell prices for America’s auto buyers. He has said he would redirect federal revenue recaptured from a canceled tax credit to build roads, bridges and dams.
Chariff calculated that the $7,500 credit could shrink a buyer’s monthly payment by between $200 and $250, allowing many to afford an EV. On average, electric vehicles sell for about $57,000, compared with around $48,000 for a gasoline vehicle, according to Cox Automotive. Elon Musk, a close adviser to Trump and co-leader of a commission that intends to identify ways to vastly shrink the federal government, appears to be aligned with the president-elect in canceling the tax credits. Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla who spent anto help elect Trump, has said that ending the credits would hurt his rival companies more than it would Tesla, the U.S. sales leader in EVs by far.
“Cutting the EV tax credit makes it harder for the battery factory in their town to sell their product,” he noted. Eliminating the federal tax credits, Fiorani suggested, would “hurt the Detroit Three in the long run as they become less competitive against global players making the technological leaps” for electric vehicles,