Comment: Trump, Big Oil lying about EVs to serve own interests

By the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board

Oil companies are worried that federal incentives and the growing popularity of electric vehicles will eat into their profits and threaten their stranglehold over energy consumption. Former President Donald Trump and other Republican politicians want to exploit consumer and autoworker anxieties about the transition to zero-emission vehicles to help them win in November.

That’s why both the fossil fuel industry and the GOP are spreading the same lie that the Biden administration is banning gas cars. This self-serving effort to deceive voters is shameful, even for those whose peddling of disinformation has become sadly expected.

At the Republican National Convention last week, Trump said, “I will end the electric vehicle mandate on Day 1.”

There is no such mandate. But facts are no obstacle to the former president and his supporters. Nor have they stopped the fossil fuel industry from spending millions of dollars in recent months on ads that have aired in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Ohio, Montana, Wisconsin and other key battleground states repeating the lie.

One ad campaign, paid for by the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers lobbying group, claims that the Biden administration is “rushing to ban new gas-powered cars” and “force you into an electric vehicle.” It’s not true.

Here are the facts. Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized new greenhouse gas emissions standards that will force automakers to ramp up sales of new zero-emission cars and light-duty trucks from about 7 percent of vehicles sold last year to more than 67 percent by 2032. These rules are projected to provide massive health benefits from cutting air pollution and save consumers billions in the form of lower fuel and maintenance costs.

Unlike California, which is phasing out sales of gas-fueled cars by 2035, the United States has no federal rule — nor is one under consideration — that would ban gas-fueled cars. In fact, the rules the EPA adopted in March were a watered-down version of a previous proposal, with loopholes allowing automakers to sell more gas vehicles for longer, election-year concessions to the auto industry and to organized labor, which is fearful that transitioning to EVs will take jobs away from union members.

And just like with the GOP-stoked brouhaha about a nonexistent ban on gas stoves last year, no federal agents are coming to seize your Toyota Camry, Honda CR-V or Ford F-150 because it guzzles gasoline instead of electrons. It’s just another easy-to-disprove mischaracterization intended to stoke anger and confusion among voters.

Dishonesty in service of a pro-fossil fuel agenda is not surprising coming from the oil industry or from Trump, who during his presidency tried to demolish all manner of environmental protections to benefit polluting industries. He’s proving to be a receptive vessel for their message once again.

Republican politicians are already the biggest recipients of campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry, and Trump has received more cash donations than any other federal candidate during this election cycle. But in a shockingly transactional suggestion, earlier this year he told oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago Club that they ought to raise $1 billion for his White House campaign in exchange for reversing Biden’s policies on electric vehicles, renewable energy and other environmental actions opposed by the fossil fuel industry.

Voters should not believe for a second that Big Oil and the GOP have anything but their own interests in mind. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron and other big companies don’t want Americans to have the independence that comes with switching to clean renewable energy. And Republicans want to scare voters to their side because they don’t feel they can win on the merits.

The fear-mongering is especially exploitative because it’s targeted to Midwestern hubs of auto manufacturing where workers are understandably concerned about their future as the world vehicle market transitions to battery-electric technology.

But instead of offering constructive solutions to help make America’s auto industry globally competitive, such as the historic levels of investment in domestic vehicle and battery manufacturing under Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, Republicans are promising only to turn back the clock and let car companies churn out as many gas guzzlers as they want.

Americans should see this lie for what it is: An effort by some of the most powerful companies in the world to sow confusion and prey on our anxieties in the pursuit of power and profit.