President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is exploring a series of steps to make it more difficult for electric vehicles to be competitive with gasoline-powered ones, culminating with the elimination of a $7,500 tax credit for people who buy E. V.s, according to three people with direct knowledge of the plans.
Harold G. Hamm, an oil billionaire, has been discussing the $7,500 credit with the Trump transition team. Mr. Hamm is the founder and chairman of Continental Resources, one of the country’s largest independent oil companies. The growth of electric vehicles poses a threat to the oil and gas industry. According to the International Energy Agency, the global rollout of electric vehicles could reduce oil demand by nearly six million barrels a day by 2030.
The electric vehicle tax credit is disliked by another Trump associate, Elon Musk, who owns Tesla. He said in July that getting rid of the tax credit would hurt Ford, GM and other competitors to Tesla.
Mr. Trump cannot unilaterally eliminate the electric vehicle tax credits. That’s because they are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which Mr. Biden signed into law in 2022. Congress would have to amend it or pass a new law to erase the credits.
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