In the U.S., former President Donald Trump’s rivals for the Republican nomination haven’t come close to matching the frequency or vitriol of his broadsides against electric vehicles.
Gregorio Borgia/AP Photo

Opposition to electric cars is also emerging as a political issue in Italy, home to Fiat and Ferrari, where Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is running one of the most right-wing governments in modern times.

Meloni’s government joined France, Poland, the Czech Republic and other car-friendly countries last week in undermining the European Commission’s “Euro 7” proposal, which aimed to clean up air pollution from what is likely to be the last generation of combustion engines. Instead, EU industry ministers adopted a dramatically weaker version. The European Parliament will take up the fight next.

‘Incredible machines’ or ‘Democratic play toys’

But while electric vehicle bashing is emerging as a tool for some conservative politicians, the realities of the auto industry’s transformation are more complex — both across the continent and in the U.S.

Orban, one of Europe’s most far-right leaders, is trying to establish Hungary as a center for electric battery factories, with more than 20 such projects underway.

Similarly, many Republicans have avoided criticizing the economic impacts of electric vehicles, especially in Southern states where automakers and battery companies are investing billions of dollars for manufacturing. Kemp, the Georgia governor, has pledged to make his state an EV manufacturing center, even as he casts doubts on climate change.

Tim Echols, a Republican who serves as vice chair of Georgia’s elected Public Service Commission, said Trump’s comments trashing the technology are contrary to the views of top GOP officials in his state.

“You have someone like Gov. Kemp stand up at his inaugural and mention EVs five different times. … That says something,” said Echols, whose commission regulates utilities in the state.

Echols said he worries that rhetoric from Trump and Fox News portraying electric vehicles as a “Democratic play toy” could temper adoption of the technology among Republicans — at least for a few years.

In Congress, Republican pushback to electric vehicles has focused on maintaining consumer choice and reducing reliance on China, rather than a philosophical opposition to the cars themselves.

Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), whose district is seeing a $5.5 billion investment from Hyundai for an electric vehicle factory, called them “incredible machines” in a recent hearing.

“I am opposed to the idea that we should be more or less forcing Americans into these vehicles only,” Carter said.