Collin Peterson: Electric vehicle mandates are a key election issue

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There’s been a lot of back and forth on the Star Tribune’s opinion pages in the last few weeks about farming, biofuels and our rural communities, and it brought to my mind the challenges of integrating electric vehicles (EVs) into our transportation system and the role government, as opposed to consumers, should play in that change.

Prompted by recent changes to tailpipe emission rules aimed at promoting EVs, lawmakers are taking notice and asking questions about what is sensible and realistic in the effort to reduce emissions. Under the newly finalized regulation, about 70% of all new vehicle sales in 2032 would have to be either EVs or plug-in hybrids, even though EVs only accounted for 7.5% of sales last year.

To put these new EV rules into context, we should consider how the federal government has for 16 years been trying to induce EV sales through tax credits. It was the last year of George W. Bush’s administration when the first EV tax credit of $7,500 per buyer took effect. Despite billions of dollars spent to encourage, incentivize and even compel the transition to electric vehicles, uptake has been slow, with EVs making up roughly 1% of all cars currently on the road.

The drawbacks most often cited by consumers are the cost of EVs, concerns over battery reliability, particularly in cold-weather states like ours, and the lack of access to charging stations, especially in rural areas where range anxiety is real. All of these issues overwhelmingly offset any advantages people see from switching away from autos powered by gas and biofuels to electric models.

In Minnesota, EV sales were about 6.4% of all auto sales last year, but EVs still represent just 0.6% of all vehicle registrations, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Meanwhile, state farmers continue to play a major role in providing ethanol and biodiesel to mix with gasoline and diesel, respectively, so autos have greater fuel efficiency and lower overall emissions. In my opinion, an “all of the above” energy policy is the most sensible way to transition consumers into more efficient vehicles.

With 16 years of consumer behavior showing EVs are not selling well, even with an ongoing taxpayer-financed discount, it is worth considering the impact of making it harder for people to buy gas cars. The new emission standards set levels that are challenging for gas and diesel cars, even with ethanol and biodiesel blends, to meet on their own.

Most voters are not fans of having their buying decisions limited or mandated by politicians. A Pew poll last year found 60% of Americans oppose government mandates that would phase out the sale of gas-powered cars. Even 37% of Democrats are against those mandates, while Republicans and most independents strongly oppose auto mandates.

This was not a top-of-mind issue with voters as recently as a couple of months ago when research showed a vast majority of people had not heard about the possibility of government phasing out the manufacture and sale of most new gas cars. But now that the new EV mandate rule is in place, with a 2027 start date, both media, lawmakers and candidates have started talking about the issue. Policymakers should take note of the potential impact this issue could have in key swing states.

Collin Peterson served as U.S. representative of Minnesota’s Seventh District from 1991-2021 as a member of the Democratic Party. While in Congress, he was chairman of the House Agriculture Committee from 2007-11 and 2019-21 and authored the 2018 farm bill.