Ford Exec Says Politics Is To Blame For Electric Car Resistance. Stats Show It Really Is A Red State/Blue State Issue

With no fewer than 15 new full-electric cars reaching the market so far this year, the expanded competition is not only helping drive down transaction prices, but is spurring an industry-wide sales boost of 50% over the first three quarters of 2023, according to Cox Automotive. That amounts to an added 300,000-plus units, year-over-year, though EVs still account for just a fraction—7.9%—of total industry sales.

When polled, consumers cite high transaction prices, possible range anxiety and a relative dearth of reliable public charging stations as reasons to stick with internal combustion technology. Enthusiasts, meanwhile, praise EVs’ added performance, lower maintenance costs and the ability bypass gas stations with zero tailpipe emissions. But it seems opinions in some quarters may have as much to do with partisan politics as an EV’s actual attributes and drawbacks.

In a New York Times interview, Ford Motor Company Executive Chair Bill Ford (great-grandson of the company’s founder Henry Ford), likens the ongoing EV kerfuffle to the party-line divisions that surrounded COVID-19-related mask mandates and vaccinations.

“Blue states say EVs are great and we need to adopt them as soon as possible for climate reasons. Some of the red states say this is just like the vaccine, and it’s being shoved down our throat by the government, and we don’t want it," Ford says. “I never thought I would see the day when our products were so heavily politicized, but they are.”

The Biden administration is, of course, actively endorsing the technology’s widespread acceptance among consumers via tax credits, and incentivizing automakers to build electric cars and their underlying battery packs in the U.S. Representing the flip side of the political coin, former President Donald Trump slammed electrification in a speech before Michigan auto workers, warning them, “Biden’s mandate isn’t a government regulation, it’s a government assassination of your jobs and your industry.”

For the record, the Environmental Protection Agency says that transportation is responsible for 29% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., with 81% of that generated by cars and trucks.

To be sure, EV sales and infrastructure installation are embraced and encouraged more in some U.S. states than others, which is where the red-versus-blue political undertow tends to be the most prevalent. For starters, driving patterns in rural parts of the country (which are most likely to vote Republican) are inherently less favorable to EVs than in larger cities. A great number rural residents rely on XXL pickup trucks and tend to put a considerably higher than average number of miles on their rides each day, and at speeds that tend to drain an EV’s battery at an accelerated rate. Plus, the number of public charging stations situated in or near smaller towns to provide a quick jolt of kilowatts when necessary remains slim to none.

And, yes, some tradespeople or farmers from more-conservative states might simply choose not to be associated with technology that’s perceived as upper class snobbish, though it’s hoped this attitude may eventually soften as new full- electric pickup trucks from mainstream automakers like Ford, Chevrolet, GMC and Ram reach the market and attain more-affordable sticker prices moving forward.

On the positive side, a study on electrified rides conducted by the online vehicle marketplace iSeeCars.com found the recent upswing in EV sales is not necessarily dependent upon a given state’s political leanings.

“Several states you wouldn't associate with hybrid and electric vehicles saw the most growth over the past five years, including Alaska, West Virginia, Louisiana, Wyoming, Arkansas and North Dakota,” says Karl Brauer, iSeeCars.com Executive Analyst. “Then you have Washington, California, and Oregon, three states most people would associate with environmental activism that ranked 45th, 46th, and 49th out of 50 in hybrid and electric vehicle market share growth.”

The key phrase there is likely, “market share growth,” as Washington, California, and Oregon are home to the genre’s early adopters and ardent supporters, most of whom have likely yet to trade them in for new models or expand the family fleet with added EVs.

For now, it seems the most EV-friendly states in terms of financial incentives and other programs remain colored blue, while those that do far less to encourage battery-powered vehicles are generally considered red, according to the 2023 State Transportation Electrification Scorecard compiled by the nonprofit research organization American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

“Transitioning to electric vehicles is vital for the climate and for reducing costs for households and businesses,” says Bryan Howard, state policy director at ACEEE and lead report author. “The leading states are embracing this transition, but many more are just starting, even as the automakers are preparing a burst of new electric models.”

California leads the way in this regard with a top-ranked 91 out of 100 possible points in the ACEEE’s latest Scorecard. In contrast, the bottom-ranked states earned 15 points or less, with a number of them earning few or no points at all in multiple categories

Of the 33 U.S. states ranked, these are the 15 ACEEE says are doing the most to promote and enable EV ownership, including providing financial incentives for vehicle purchases and installing vehicle chargers, with their color-keyed political leanings provided by fivethirtyeight.com:

1. California (blue)
2. New York (blue)
3. Colorado (blue)
4. Massachusetts (blue)
5. Vermont (blue)
6. Washington (blue)
7. New Jersey (blue)
8. District of Columbia (blue)
9. Oregon (blue)
10. Maryland (blue)
11. Maine (blue)
12. Connecticut (blue)
13. Nevada (blue)
14. Hawaii (blue)
15. Virginia (blue)

And these are the otherwise unranked states the AACEE found do the least to enable widespread EV adoption:

1. Alabama (red)
2. Alaska (red)
3. Arkansas (red)
4. Indiana (red)
5. Kentucky (red)
6. Louisiana (red)
7. Ohio (red)
8. Mississippi (red)
9. Missouri (red)
10. Nebraska (red)
11. New Hampshire (blue)
12. North Dakota (red)
13. South Carolina (red)
14. South Dakota (red)
15. Texas (red)
16. West Virginia (red)
17. Wisconsin (blue)
18. Wyoming (red)

The ACEEE’s full report can be downloaded here.