Carmakers urge Trump to preserve EV tax credits, boost self-driving cars

Auto sector calls for "reasonable and achievable" emissions regulations

Last week, Reuters reported that president-elect Donald Trump's transition team wants to kill the $7,500consumer tax credit for electric vehicle purchases, a move that would likely slow an already stalling US EV transition.
Last week, Reuters reported that president-elect Donald Trump's transition team wants to kill the $7,500consumer tax credit for electric vehicle purchases, a move that would likely slow an already stalling US EV transition.
Image: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

A group representing major carmakers including General Motors, Toyota, and Volkswagen urged US president-elect Donald Trump to retain key tax credits for electric vehicle purchases and take steps to speed deployment of self-driving cars.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation in a previously unreported November 12 letter to Trump also raised concerns about vehicle emissions rules, citing "federal and state emissions regulations (particularly in California and affiliated states) that are out-of-step with current auto market realities and increase costs for consumer.."

The carmakers did not specify how they want the rules revised but said they support "reasonable and achievable" emissions regulations. The Trump transition team did not immediately comment.

The letter, signed by the group's CEO John Bozzella, said carmakers face unfair competition "from heavily subsidised electric vehicles and technologies exported from China" and noted China was implementing a regulatory framework to support deployment of self-driving vehicles.

The group also asked Trump to reconsider rules finalised in April requiring nearly all new cars and trucks by 2029 to have advanced automatic emergency braking systems. The group earlier said the rules are "practically impossible with available technologies".

Last week, Reuters reported Trump's transition team wants to kill the $7,500 (about R135,956) consumer tax credit for electric vehicle purchases,  move that would likely slow an already stalling US EV transition.

This week, Reuters reported Trump's transition team plans to target federal regulations championed by President Joe Biden that aim to make cars more fuel-efficient and incentivise a shift toward EVs.

The move appears aimed at satisfying a Trump campaign promise to "end the EV mandate" and would mirror a similar move during the first Trump administration to roll back Barack Obama-era vehicle-efficiency rules.

Though no such "EV mandate" exists, the Biden administration regulations would effectively require carmakers to shift at least 35% of production to EVs  to meet 2032 requirements, and encourage a gradual phasing out of the production of vehicles that run on fossil fuels. 


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