Time to Buy an EV and Invest in Clean Energy

What is that old saying?

Necessity is the mother of invention in times of great need.

Or maybe it should be a new proverb: affordability is the father of forward progress as Donald Trump’s war on clean energy, including ending subsidies for electric vehicle purchases and investments in solar and wind projects, coupled with his war of choice against Iran, has created near perfect market conditions for people to…wait for it…buy an electric car and invest in solar and wind energy sources.

With a glut of electric vehicles wasting away on car lots, automotive companies have responded to the law of supply and demand, reducing their asking sales price to roughly what it would have been had the Biden/Harris Era tax incentives for those types of vehicles had been in place.

Another factor to consider is that the average prices of a new electric vehicle ($54,500) compared to a gas-powered one ($49,000) are drawing closer.

According to a guest op-ed in the New York Times, the sales price for the five best selling electric vehicles is less than the average price for a new car.

That is in addition to the $6,000 to $12,000 in average savings on maintenance and fuel costs.

With prices falling on electric vehicles and gas prices, thanks to Trump’s war of choice against Iran rising, electric vehicle sales for auto companies like Tesla have risen.

So have electric vehicle sales for General Motors, Hyndai, and Kia.

Hybrid sales for Toyota and Honda are also doing well.

At a time when people are struggling with affordability, buying electric vehicles that are at least comparable in price to gasoline-powered ones, with the added incentive that all they have to do is plug them in at home to power up, rather than spend $5.00 a gallon on gas, is a powerful inducement for the American consumer to consider cleaner energy options.

There is also a nationalist side to consider.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, in writing about the increasing affordability of battery technology and electric vehicles, warned that the United States, under Trump’s climate change denialism and anti-science/clean energy agenda, would cede the new emerging cleaner and better energy markets to China.

This writer has also pointed out in several articles that Trump is like a Manchurian Candidate with his reactionary energy and science policies aiding China’s emerging clean sustainability sector.

In one of his articles, Krugman wrote:

“…Under President Biden the United States took much needed steps toward developing its own electrotech sectors, notably batteries and electric vehicles. It also sought to accelerate the growth of renewable energy in general. But not only has the Trump administration canceled all of Biden’s renewable energy programs, it is also actively trying to block private commercial investments in renewable energy.

By the time America frees itself from Trump’s fossil fuel obsession, if it ever does, China’s lead in the manufacture of renewables will probably be insurmountable…“

“Given the rate at which the planet is warming, a shift away from fossil fuels can’t come fast enough. Where the equipment needed to make that shift happen was manufactured is a secondary issue.

Yet it’s sad to watch this country sabotage itself and cede the most important industry of the future to China. In doing so, we make ourselves poorer, technologically backward, and less influential in a world that is speeding towards the energy revolution. In the end, we aren’t just burning fossil fuels; we’re also burning our future.“

Arizona Senate Democratic Leader Priya Sundareshan, an advocate for clean energy sustainability as well as safeguarding the state’s water supply, commented on the need to better invest in electric vehicles and other forms of clean energy technology, offering:

“Trump’s choice to take the U.S. into reckless war with Iran has not only put members of our military at risk but has also dramatically increased prices at the gas pump for Arizonans. Now more than ever, we can see the pressing need for Arizona to take advantage of our sunny days and to invest in solar energy and electric vehicle incentives. Instead, we see both Trump’s federal energy and environmental policy and state Republicans in the Arizona Legislature doubling down on policies that prefer fossil fuel use, causing working-class families to see their bills skyrocket ever higher while their wealthy cronies profit. Wiser leadership would help our state electrify and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. “

It would be sweet irony if Donald Trump’s war on science, tax policies, and ill-conceived war against Iran would actually create the free market conditions for people, in search of affordability, to purchase the very clean energy automobiles that he abhors, and actually make the United States a major leader in those vital economic and scientific sectors.

This movement would be greatly helped with the election of public policy servants who fight for America’s future, traveling the road ahead with solar and wind as opposed to coal and oil.