(Credit: Bloomberg / Contributor / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump has made railing against electric vehicles a central part of his platform, going as far as telling EV supporters to "rot in hell" in a Christmas Day social media post.
Yet Trump this week told CNBC host Joe Kernen that "I'm all for electric cars, but you have to have all of the alternatives also."
Trump did not elaborate on what alternatives he supports, and Kernen didn't ask. But in December (before the "rot in hell" post), he told Fox News host Sean Hannity that "we should sell electric, but we should also sell a combustion engine gasoline cars. We can sell hybrids. The hybrids are fine. We should be able to buy everything. Some people might like an electric car. We should be able to buy an electric car."
On CNBC, Trump quickly pivoted to familiar EV criticisms. EVs "don't go far, they cost too much, and they're all going to be made in China," Trump said. A push for an all-EV future, meanwhile, was crafted "by very, very stupid people."
He also cast doubt that the nation's electric grid can handle a shift to EVs, though an MIT study found that charging during off-peak times may make it feasible. And he denounced Biden's decision to cancel oil and gas drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska, which the Trump administration approved in 2020 and looks poised to revive should Trump win in 2024.
Trump's comments come shortly after he met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk at Mar-a-Lago; "We obviously have opposing views on a minor subject called electric cars," Trump said on CNBC.
Musk has also clashed with the Biden administration for "ignoring" Tesla, though Biden has made the shift to EVs a major part of his presidency. He approved an electric vehicle tax credit that's valid until 2032. And his funding efforts are boosting domestic battery production and research in an attempt to counter China's dominance in this area, helping create a national charging network, and swapping diesel school buses for electric.
Still, EV demand has declined, and hybrids are proving popular for automakers like Toyota, Ford. The Biden administration is also expected to soften its EV adoption goals, as requested by the car makers and the United Auto Workers, Reuters reports.
The United Autoworkers union officially endorsed President Biden for reelection in January, though Trump said in the CNBC interview that "the auto workers are going to vote" for him.