With President-elect Donald Trump vowing to terminate what he calls the “green new scam” once he takes office, a coalition of electric vehicle and battery manufacturers issued a statement Friday urging him to retain tax credits for EV production and sales, including a popular subsidy that has helped drivers buy zero-emission vehicles. 

What You Need To Know

  • The Zero Emission Transportation Association issued a statement Friday urging President-elect Donald Trump to retain tax credits for electric vehicle production and sales

  • EV makers Rivian, Tesla and Lucid, as well as battery makers LG and Panasonic, are part of the association run by former Vice President Al Gore

  • Gore expressed support for the Section 45X tax credit included in the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which subsidizes the production of battery components and critical minerals for goods that are produced in the United States

  • Trump has vowed to terminate what he calls the "green new scam" once he takes office

A federal clean vehicle tax credit of up to $7,500 has been available to buyers of electric and plug-in-hybrid vehicles since 2011.

Production credits “have driven enormous job growth and new economic opportunities across the country, but particularly in battery belt states like Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Georgia,” Zero Emission Transportation Association Executive Director and former Vice President Al Gore said in a statement. 

Gore expressed support for the Section 45X tax credit included in the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which subsidizes the production of battery components and critical minerals for goods that are produced in the United States.

“If the United States is going to continue to fight to bring those jobs here and actually compete to win against China, there needs to be a demand signal — like the New Clean Vehicle Tax Credit — aligned with that goal, otherwise we would be undercutting those investments and hurting American job growth,” he said.

The statement from an association that represents EV makers Rivian, Tesla and Lucid, as well as battery makers Panasonic and LG and the ride-share service Uber, comes one day after Reuters reported the Trump administration plans to kill the federal clean vehicle tax credit.