Trump calls EV range anxiety a 'disease' at Vegas rally
SkimNews Take
Calling range anxiety a "disease" frames it as a permanent trait rather than a diminishing engineering hurdle, while credit for killing a nonexistent mandate suggests the EV fight is measured against phantom policies.
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- Trump mocked EV owners at the Red Rock Resort rally, claiming drivers have a 'disease' — watching their battery drain at 3/4 full and scanning for charging stations 89 miles away
- Trump said he 'ended the electric mandate' and noted 'Elon wasn't exactly thrilled,' but no federal law ever required Americans to buy an EV; the policies he killed were tailpipe emissions standards and California's clean-car rules that pushed automakers to build more EVs without forcing consumer purchases
- The 7% US EV take rate Trump cited is roughly accurate for battery-electric market share, but his own administration drove that figure down by yanking the EV tax credit and gutting emissions rules
- Range anxiety — the 'disease' Trump described — has been largely resolved in most markets through improved range prediction and a growing fast-charging infrastructure
- Norway is virtually all-electric, most European markets exceed 20% EV share, and China recently crossed 50%, leaving the US at 7% and 'being left behind in the most significant energy revolution in a hundred years,' per the article
Why it matters: Trump is boasting about a 7% US EV adoption rate that his own administration drove down by killing the EV tax credit and gutting emissions standards, while China just crossed 50% EV market share and Norway goes virtually all-electric — putting US consumers and automakers on the wrong side of the global energy transition, according to the article's own commentary.
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