The answer may come down to the states, where decisions are made on whether to spend millions of dollars to build charging infrastructure. Some, like California and Massachusetts, seemed poised to zoom ahead, their resolve stiffened by early successes and a desire to clean the air and repudiate the president.
Meanwhile, other states that have few EVs and little infrastructure might find it hard to marshal the local will without a federal ally and fall farther behind.
Electric cars have no tailpipe emissions and have been a part of the fleets that automakers have planned to meet higher fuel efficiency standards. They have also been a pervasive force that aided the states in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that lead to scorching summers. Without those standards, there is less urgency.
The rollback prompted a outcry in states where EVs are starting to take off. Governors, big-city mayors, environmental and health groups, and 19 state attorneys general issued stern rebukes of Trump and his EPA, which formulated the new proposed rules along with the Department of Transportation.
"For Trump to now destroy a law first enacted at the request of Ronald Reagan five decades ago is a betrayal and an assault on the health of Americans everywhere," said California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) in a statement. "Under his reckless scheme, motorists will pay more at the pump, get worse gas mileage and breathe dirtier air. California will fight this stupidity in every conceivable way possible."
There was less anger in states like Utah, which has a few thousand EVs on the road and where a $1,500 tax credit for the vehicles was discontinued last year.
Read more at How Weakened Fuel Rules Could Lead to EV Haves, Have-Nots
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