Democratic Kentucky governor pushes back against Trump-led attacks on electric vehicles

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Electric vehicles have gained enough momentum from job growth and investment to overcome any obstacles. Donald Trump and other criticsKentucky Governor Andy Beshear said on Thursday.

The Democratic governor said the thousands of jobs electric cars will create across the country – including in rural GOP strongholds – should be enough to overcome the political backlash against the technology.

“Jobs are so much more important than the political rhetoric that prevails day in and day out,” Beshear said in an interview with the Associated Press.

In the Bluegrass State, the emerging EV sector has been a major contributor to the state’s record growth. Since mid-2020, EV-related companies have announced nearly $12 billion in investments and are expected to create more than 10,200 full-time jobs. These include the state’s largest economic development project A new plant is under construction to produce batteries for future electric vehicles from Ford and Lincoln.

The governor dismissed the barrage of anti-electric car attacks by former Republican President Trump and others as “just another attempt to divide people.”

“Many people have tried to fight the future, and none of them have ever won,” Beshear said. “The EV evolution or revolution is coming. The only question is how long it will take to get there.”

The rise of electric vehicles has become an issue in the presidential campaign. Democratic President Joe Biden is touting electric vehicles as a key component of his clean energy agenda. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, calls Biden’s push for electric vehicles a “radical plan” that amounts to an overreach of government powers. Meanwhile, Republican allies in the petroleum industry have spent millions on ads claiming Biden’s tax credit for electric vehicle buyers will cost Americans their freedom.

Beshear said Thursday that the attacks will not hinder Kentucky’s EV sector. Since his re-election last year, the governor has taken a more active role in promoting Democrats across the country. Beshear twice defeated Trump-backed candidates to win the governorship in Republican-leaning Kentucky.

“It’s coming,” Beshear said of the electric vehicle industry. “It’s already growing. And Kentucky is going to be at the forefront of that electric vehicle development … and that’s exciting. And it’s a lot of jobs.”

“Ultimately, regardless of who wins the presidential election, there will be so many jobs and so much investment that the EV sector will continue to grow,” he added.

GM CEO Mary Barra said at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday that May was the best month for sales of electric vehicles in the company’s history. Spokesman David Caldwell declined to provide U.S. figures, but said GM sold about 9,000 vehicles in North America last month. The best month to date was about 7,000, he said.

However, the electric vehicle sector continues to face headwinds. A new survey shows that many Americans remain skeptical about electric vehicles. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults say they would be at least somewhat likely to buy an electric car the next time they buy a car, according to a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute. About 46% say they would be not very likely or not at all likely to buy an electric car.

Beshear said Thursday the survey showed encouraging signs for the EV sector. The number of adults who said they were at least somewhat likely to buy an electric vehicle “is a pretty darn good start given the transition that we know is going to happen,” he said.

“So I don’t see that as bad news at all,” Beshear added. “Four out of 10 consumers is more than enough to support our current state as a state. But that will grow over time.”

Range anxiety – the idea that electric vehicles won’t go far enough on a single charge and could leave drivers stranded – remains a major reason many Americans don’t buy electric vehicles. Trump mocks electric vehicles by saying, “They don’t go far enough and they’re too expensive.”

In Kentucky, Beshear recently announced a third round of contracts to private developers to build state-funded electric vehicle charging stations. In total, the state has approved 42 charging stations from 11 developers to “provide reliable and convenient vehicle charging stations every 50 miles along our interstates and parkways. This is just the beginning,” Beshear said at a recent press conference. That total does not include the charging stations others are building in the state.

Beshear predicted that electric vehicles will overcome concerns about charging and pricing, as well as political attacks. And their availability will free drivers from anxiety about gas prices, he said.

“One of the things we see every day as we drive around is the price of gasoline,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to this report.