During an interview with Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” released on Tuesday, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm blamed the “hiccup” in electric vehicle demand on “a lot of talking down of electric vehicles,” and predicted that after the election, there will be “more positivity” around EVs.
Host Michael Kosta asked, “It feels like electric — sorry to be the bummer — it feels like EV has slowed a little bit. What are some of the challenges you’re facing?”
Granholm responded, “Well, a little bit. First of all, we’ve sold 4 million EVs since the start of this administration, which is more than all EVs ever sold before. And the hiccup, well, first of all, I think there’s been a lot of talking down of electric vehicles, unfortunately. I think once we get past November we’ll see, I think, more positivity, because J.D. [Power], they do a survey of, like, who wants to buy. People who have electric vehicles, they will never go back. And people who don’t have electric vehicles, if they’re thinking about switching and they want to save money on gasoline, they’re looking at it. And because of the Inflation Reduction Act…that provides incentives for consumers to buy electric vehicles. So, you can get $7,500 off the dealer to purchase one. So, there’s — so we’re seeing year-over-year, quarter-over-quarter increases, and that’s good. And we’ve got electric vehicle charging stations, as of today, here’s news: 200,000 public charging stations across the country.”
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