CBS anchor tells Buttigieg Trump is 'not wrong' when it comes to Biden's struggling EV push
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg faced pushback over a lack of progress in transitioning to electric vehicles despite massive federal investment.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was confronted by a CBS host over the Biden administration’s aggressive electric vehicle (EV) push.
Buttigieg responded to repeated attacks by former President Trump, who claimed President Biden is spending billions of federal dollars on an unpopular car.
"You notice he’s trying to save the electric vehicle but not the gas powered which is the vehicle everybody wants. They’re going crazy with the electric car, costing us a fortune. We’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars subsidizing a car nobody wants and nobody is ever going to buy," Trump said.
"He’s not wrong on the purchasing," CBS anchor Margaret Brennen told Buttigieg during a Sunday interview on "Face the Nation."
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"He’s wrong," Buttigieg rebuffed.
"He’s not," Brennen pushed back. "Of the 4 million vehicles purchased, 269,000 electric vehicles were sold in the U.S. Market. It’s up like 2%."
"Every single year more Americans buy EVs than the year before," he insisted.
Later on, Brennen confronted Buttigieg on the lack of progress regarding EV charging stations throughout the country.
"The Federal Highway Administration says only seven or eight charging stations have been produced with a $7.5 billion investment that taxpayers made back in 2021. Why isn’t that happening more quickly?" Brennen asked.
"So the president’s goal is to have half a million chargers up by the end of this decade. Now, in order to do a charger, it’s more than plugging a small device into the ground. There’s utility work, and this is also really a new category of federal investment. But we’ve been working with each of the 50 states, every one of them is getting formula dollars to do this work," Buttigieg answered.
"Seven or eight though?" Brennen interjected, giving a small laugh at his answer.
"Again, by 2030, 500,000 chargers," Buttigieg continued. "The very first handful of chargers are now already being physically built. Again, that’s the absolute very, very beginning stages of the construction to come. The reason that we’re investing federal dollars is to fill in some of the gaps in areas where it is not yet profitable for the private sector to do it. Again, the majority of charging will happen at home."
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In April, a Gallup poll showed a decreasing interest in Americans in purchasing an electric vehicle with only 9% "seriously considering" buying one.
However, the Biden administration finalized stricter emission regulations to achieve the president’s goal of having 50% of all U.S. car sales being electric vehicles by the end of the decade.