Why Rising Anti EV Sentiment Risks the Auto Industry's Future

National levels of vitriol and muck-flinging are reaching all-time highs. You can't look at puppy and kitten videos online without getting hit in the face by a stray political meme. It's unfortunate, but given the histrionics of this year's presidential election, you really can't expect anything less.

But this is the first election cycle where all that angst has boiled over so messily onto our driveways. If you read my last opinion piece, you know just how heated the topic of electric vehicles has become this year. The increasing hostility toward battery-powered cars is without question negatively impacting the adoption curve of EVs in the U.S.

That's largely thanks to the fact that opposition to EVs, along with the government subsidies and emissions goals designed to encourage their adoption, are becoming a key part of the Republican Party platform. Most of the GOP leadership rails against electric cars at every opportunity, led by the Republican candidate for president, Donald Trump, who has said in the past that EV fans should "rot in hell." He has also predicted that President Biden's EV-friendly policies would "create an economic bloodbath for the auto industry and autoworkers."

The former president has recently softened his hardline stance somewhat, however, saying that he had "no choice" but to do so in exchange for an endorsement from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. But he still believes that electric vehicles are only suitable for a "small slice" of the population. Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, has also been an outspoken critic of EVs and thus far has not walked back any of his earlier statements about ending the present tax incentives.

While I realize that some of this is simply saber-rattling and playing to the Republican base, I'm still struggling to wrap my head around the party’s short-sighted hostility toward electrification. Because when you look past the political talking points, you'll see that EVs align perfectly with many key Republican economic goals and personal values.

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High Gas Prices

The most common anti-Biden (and now anti-Harris) memes I see on social networks have to do with gas prices. The common technique is to compare gas prices in 2020, before Biden took office, to today.

On the surface, it might look like a fair point. According to the AAA, a decidedly non-partisan organization, the average price of gas in January 2021, Biden's first month in office, was $2.41. In July of this year, the average was $3.52, an increase of 46 percent. That climb is especially stark when you consider that a gallon of gas increased just 7 percent by similar metrics during Trump's presidency; when he entered office in January 2017, the average cost of a gallon of gas was about $2.46, and in January 2020, it was $2.64. (The COVID effect in 2020 complicates the math over Trump’s final year in office, but by the time of Biden’s inauguration, gas prices had largely returned to normal.)

Context is always important, though, and it's worth noting that global crude oil prices remained flat during Trump's term, increasing only slightly from $48.19 to $49.47 per barrel, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration. (A barrel of crude oil cost $56.55 in January 2020.) In the four years since, crude oil prices have spiked to over $72. That's a 46 percent increase—exactly matching that of the gas price hike.

That increase is despite U.S. oil production soaring to new heights under the Biden administration. Not only is the U.S. producing more oil than it has at any time in history, but it's also producing more oil than any other country in the world. Still, that hasn’t been enough to counter the global energy crisis, caused in large part by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, plus myriad other factors.

Regardless, gas prices have clearly skyrocketed, and there's a simple way everyone can reduce their fuel costs by upward of two-thirds. That is, of course, to buy an EV.

Let's quickly do some back-of-the-napkin math to illustrate that. Let's go with the Hyundai Ioniq 6, our pick for the best non-Tesla affordable electric sedan. In Long Range trim, it can do an EPA-rated 361 miles to a charge. That equates to about 24 kilowatt-hours of electricity per 100 miles. Right now, Americans pay on average about $0.16 per kWh. That works out to $3.84 per 100 miles or, to look at it in a more familiar way, $12.38 for a full "tank" in the Ioniq's 77.4-kWh battery pack.

Let's compare that to the 2.0-liter inline-four gas engine powering the Hyundai Elantra, which does 34 mpg combined according to the EPA, or 2.9 gallons per 100 miles. Since gas is now $3.52 per gallon, that's $10.21 to go 100 miles, or $43.65 for a full, 12.4-gallon tank.

On a per-mile basis, you're looking at nearly two-thirds savings. Or, if you live somewhere like Utah, where gas is $3.65 per gallon but electricity is only $0.11 per kWh, you're looking at $2.64 to go 100 miles in the Ioniq 6 versus $10.59. That makes gasoline roughly four times more expensive than electricity per-mile.

Yes, you'll need to spend more upfront to get into the electric Ioniq, but numerous studies have shown that that the additional cost usually pays off over the course of an average vehicle ownership, thanks to the savings on fuel and a reduction in maintenance (no oil changes, less parts to fail, etc.).

So if you truly want to reduce your fuel costs, buying an EV is a great way to do it. Then you, too, can enjoy the bliss of driving past a gas station without feeling the slightest temptation to glance at the weighty numbers suspended above it.

National Independence

Dependency on foreign oil has been a perpetual political talking point, given the most weight in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis.

Again, thanks to our current rate of domestic oil production, we've actually never been less dependent on foreign oil than we are right now. Still, the rise in American gas prices in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war has clearly shown that we're far from immune from global influence.

In the lead-up to this year's election, former president Trump has promised the oil industry that his administration will enable it to “drill, baby, drill,” with more pipelines and more drilling in more places, boosting domestic production even further. But nobody's talking about another significant pipeline that's wrapping up construction right now: the Champlain Hudson Power Express.

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This high-voltage line is currently being strung from Canada down to Manhattan, adding 1,250 megawatts of renewable energy to the American grid. In energy terms, that's the equivalent of pumping more than 35,000 gallons of gasoline every hour.

All that energy shot into the heart of Manhattan, all running through a pair of 5-inch underground cables, and all generated through renewable means.

Many people talk about the environmental benefits of renewable energy, but too few talk about the political and economic implications.

Put simply, embracing electric cars is the easiest way to embrace American energy independence in the long run. Our electrical grid is increasingly shifting toward renewables, but where it isn't, it's largely fed by domestic sources such as natural gas and coal. While we certainly use foreign oil for some things like manufacturing and commercial use, two-thirds of the oil we import goes right into the tanks of our cars. That means if we stop burning fuel in our cars, we could virtually eliminate all oil imports.

And that sense of independence works on a much smaller scale, too.

Personal Independence

There's a strong reverence for personal independence among many political conservatives. Whether you're living off the land or just aspiring to a cabin in the woods, there's an undeniable satisfaction in surviving on the skills, tools, and resources you have at your own disposal.

But so long as you drive a gas- or diesel-powered vehicle, you will never truly have personal independence. Unless you have an oil derrick plus a refinery at your disposal, at least.

No matter how many barrels of unleaded you stack in the back of your barn or how big a tank of diesel you mount on the side of your garage, you'll never be able to refill them on your own.

That changes if you switch to electric vehicles.

Technologies exist today to enable you to charge an electric car, electric truck, or even electric tractor right in your home, completely off the grid. Whether from the wind, the sun, or even the water, you can harvest electricity from nature and shove it right in the battery pack of the rig that takes you to school, work, or even to your camp. Better yet, once you get there, that EV can turn around and keep the lights on, freeing you from needing a gas-powered generator.

Cutting Tax Bills

Everyone hates taxes, but they are of extra significance for conservative voters. The federal government charges roughly 18 cents in taxes for every gallon of gasoline you purchase. State taxes, on average, add another 32 cents. That's about $0.50 per gallon of gas, equating to a roughly 15 percent tax based on that average gas price per gallon.

That's annoying, but it gets worse when you factor efficiency into the equation. Your average gasoline-powered car is less than 30 percent efficient. That means for every 10 gallons of gasoline you burn, seven gallons, and $3.50 in taxes, is turned into smoke and noise and heat. Only three out of those 10 gallons actually get you somewhere.

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The picture is much better on the EV side. In the United States, the federal government does not tax residential electricity. Likewise, many states exempt residential use for electricity. For those that do, it often falls within the general sales tax, usually on the order of 5 percent.

So you'll pay significantly fewer taxes to drive an EV. And because EVs are generally around 80 percent efficient, most of what you do spend is used to actually get you where you're going.

This is an area that's changing, though. A few states have begun to impose EV-specific road use taxes. This includes Texas, which now hits EV owners with an additional $200 annual tax. But the average person spends about $200 every month on gas, so you'll still come out well ahead.

American Business Interests

While it's generally agreed that Germany pioneered the EV with the 1888 Flocken Elektrowagen, you can easily make the case that America has done more than any other country to perfect today's technology. Tesla was the first to really crack the nut, defining what a desirable, affordable, fun-to-drive EV should be. It has since gone on to become not only the world's leading manufacturer of EVs but also the manufacturer of the world's most popular car overall, the Tesla Model Y.

That type of success, from zero to over $600 billion in 20 years, is absolutely the kind of thing that any pro-business politician should be cheering on. It is the American Dream, supersized. Despite that, it was only after Elon Musk dangled his endorsement that Donald Trump reluctantly uttered anything nice to say about the EV industry.

That's surprising, given the massive investments and job creation that EVs are driving. General Motors is investing $27 billion to launch EVs. Scout Motors has pledged $2 billion for its factory in South Carolina, which will create more than 4,000 jobs. Volvo has made a huge investment in its own plant in South Carolina and is building its EX90 all-electric-powered flagship SUV there. Honda is spending billions on refitting its Ohio manufacturing complex to build EVs. The list goes on and on. Then you have the expansions from EV-adjacent companies, like Redwood Materials, spending $3.5 billion on yet another South Carolina factory, plus a further 1,500 jobs promised. (It should be noted that South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott is an opponent of the Biden administration’s aggressive EPA emissions targets aimed at boosting EV adoption.)

Over $312 billion in American EV investments have been placed in the past four years, according to the National Resources Defense Council—more than any other country in the world.

You don't have to be an environmentalist to see that there's a massive economic opportunity here. But that opportunity hinges on staying ahead of the curve. Even if the U.S. backs away from fuel-economy-related targets designed to boost EV adoption rates here, international markets will continue to steam forward toward the electrified future.

And that's perhaps the biggest economic danger in kneecapping the domestic EV market: creating an American automotive landscape that's incompatible with the rest of the world. If European and Asian markets continue shifting away from internal combustion over the next decade, American cars will struggle to compete globally, looking obsolete in a way that we haven't seen since the malaise era.

That might also mean we miss out on the latest and greatest cars from international manufacturers. Many of the highest-performing machines released over the past few years are electric, like the outrageous McMurty Spéirling and the 1,234-horsepower Lucid Air Sapphire, which is built by an American-based company.

Quashing EV interest through misleading memes and misguided political narratives risks relegating the American automotive landscape to second-class status. If you're looking to make things great, that doesn't sound like a particularly good way to do it.

- Opinion by frequent contributor Tim Stevens, who got his start writing professionally in the mid '90s and has since worked for and with numerous automotive outlets with an emphasis on automotive technology. He often writes about electric-vehicle technology and other related topics for MotorTrend.