America lacks the necessary infrastructure to facilitate the proposed mass shift to electric vehicles, an expert has claimed.
Joe Biden is planning to tackle climate change by mandating 67 per cent of all new vehicles are electric by 2032.
But according to Baxter Auto Group CEO Mickey Anderson, Americans are not braced for such radical change.
He says half the country do not have a garage, hampering their ability to charge electric vehicles.
Mickey Anderson says the US Government must ‘tap the brakes’ when it comes to the EV transition
GB NEWS
“Less than half of all Americans have a garage”, he said.
“If you do not have a garage, you cannot have a home charger, and if you don’t have that, you don’t have security to use that today.
“There’s no chance that 67 per cent or even 30 per cent of Americans could drive an electric vehicle today.”
Anderson told GB News that the US government should refrain from making such a radical shift in such a short space of time and instead allow consumers to dictate when the transition takes place.
“What we’re hearing from our customers and what we’re asking the administration to do is tap the brakes on this”, he said.
“Allow consumer preference and consumer adoption to help determine the pace that we convert from the largely ICE (internal combustion engine) fleet to an EV fleet.
“That’s simply what we’re asking. Let the consumer drive that pace of innovation rather than have a government mandate.”
Ex-US President Donald Trump has branded the shift to electric vehicles a “hoax” and vowed to reverse the decision should he take office.
Trump has had particular criticism for production in China, claiming every electric vehicle will be made in the country within three years.
There have been roughly $128 billion in domestic EV and battery manufacturing announced since the 2022 passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.
A third of the investment has taken place in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Michigan, according to analysis by advocacy group Climate Power.
The states are a keenly contested battleground between Trump and Biden, and the additional jobs afforded by electric vehicle production could add another dynamic to the race to the White House.
