oh well Californias air pollution waiver and the EV mandate are banned by Trump Among the new president's many executive orders were attacks on clean vehicle policies. Jonathan M. Gitlin Jan 21, 2025 8:19 am | 87 Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreUS President Donald Trump swore his oath of office on Monday, ascending yet again to the head of the federal government. As widely expected, he signed a swath of executive orders on his first day, many aimed at upending existing policies and satisfying grievances, whether that's pulling the country out of membership of the World Health Organizationor reversing the nation's clean vehicle policies.The Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 were signature pieces of former President Joe Biden's term of office. Among other things, the two bills contained many provisions meant to boost US competitiveness in EV manufacturing and build out publicly funded charging infrastructure.Specifically, the IIJA included $7.5 billion in funding for charging infrastructure. The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure programs were modeled on federal highway funding programs, where the funds are disbursed to state departments of transportation, which then award the money to successful applications. NEVI was meant to create corridors of fast chargers along federal highways, and CFI to build out charging infrastructure in underserved areas.That all seems very unlikely now. Trump has ordered the end of the "Green New Deal." He has ordered that all agencies immediately pause any disbursement of funds for NEVI and CFI and that those agencies conduct a review of their policies. If those agencies want to hand out any of that money from now on, they will have to satisfy the new head of the Office of Management and Budget that doing so is consistent with the president's desire to end any favorable treatment toward EVs.EV tax credit and Californias waiverThe executive order "Unleashing American Energy" also kills off former President Biden's goal of increasing EV adoption to 50 percent of all new vehicle sales by 2032. The order claims that it is ensuring "consumer choice" and "a level regulatory field" for vehicle sales.To do this, it eliminates "state emissions waivers that function to limit sales of gasoline-powered automobiles." That spells bad news for California and the 17 other states that follow the California Air Resources Board's Zero Emissions Vehicles regulations. California has been granted waivers under the Clean Air Act to set emissions controls within its state borders, but the first Trump administration spent much time and energy battling CARB's waiver.The previous moves to block CARB's waiver were partially successful and only reversed by the US Environmental Protection Agency just over a month ago.The revised clean vehicle tax credit, which provides up to $7,500 in credit toward the purchase of a new EV, or up to $4,000 for the purchase of a used EV, also looks to be in trouble. The executive order also calls out "unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs over other technologies and effectively mandate their purchase by individuals, private businesses, and government entities alike by rendering other types of vehicles unaffordable." However, as the clean vehicle tax credit is a part of the tax code, changes to it will require Congress to pass legislation to that effect.As you might expect, environmental groups are not impressed. "The transition to electric vehicles is opening factories and putting people back to work across the country," said Katherine Garca, Sierra Club director of the Clean Transportation for All campaign. "Instead of building upon progress weve made, Donald Trump remains intent on fear-mongering around electric vehicles and taking the US back in time while the rest of the world moves forward on auto innovation. Rolling back vehicle emission safeguards harms our health, our wallets, and our climate."Jonathan M. GitlinAutomotive EditorJonathan M. GitlinAutomotive Editor Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica's automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC. 87 Comments