Trump claims electric car drivers have a ‘disease’

President Trump told a rally crowd in Las Vegas this week that he "ended the electric mandate" and mocked EV owners for worrying about running out of charge, calling it a "disease." There was never a federal law requiring anyone to buy an electric car. What he's referring to are federal tailpipe emissions standards and California's clean-car rules, which pushed automakers to build more EVs but never forced anyone to purchase one. His administration targeted those rules with executive orders early in his second term.

Trump also repeated that electric vehicles make up about 7% of US car sales, which is roughly accurate. But that share has been shaped in part by his own administration's moves to end the federal EV tax credit and loosen emissions rules, both of which had encouraged EV adoption. Meanwhile, range anxiety, the worry about a battery running low before finding a charger, has become far less of an issue as charging networks expand and cars get better at predicting range.

For homeowners, none of this changes existing home energy programs or rebates directly. But it's a reminder that federal EV incentives have been rolled back, so if you're weighing an EV purchase or already own one, it's worth checking current state and local incentives rather than assuming past federal tax credits still apply.