Nightly Nuance - February 24, 2021

Hello my friends. I just typed "November 24" so clearly I've used all my words and thoughts today! Hope you're having the best Wednesday available. 

We've been talking this week about the Biden vision for the economy, and electric vehicles are an enormous part of that vision. I'm attempting to scratch the surface of the issues surrounding electric vehicles in this episode. 

Climate change requires us to think broadly about ways to meet the challenges that are inevitably coming. Electric vehicles are a priority for the administration because transportation is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. A 2018 report from the United Auto Workers convinced Joe Biden as a candidate that electric vehicles are a key to creating good-paying manufacturing jobs and meeting the demands of climate change; much of the Biden agenda has been shaped by this report (which the NY Times Magazine describes as combining cutting edge technology with old-school economics). 

Biden's plans include replacing the government fleet with electric vehicles on some timetable and shoring up the US manufacturing supply chain to create more EV parts here. He draws on the Clean Cars for America proposal from Senators Stabenow, Schumer, and Merkley that would use a cash-for-clunkers type program to incentivize consumer purchases of electric vehicles. 

There are numerous challenges to pursuing the electric vehicle strategy: 

- it's unclear whether subsidies make for good policy 

- states differ in their friendliness and hostility to electric cars 

- labor unions and climate activists have differing and sometimes conflicting goals 

- more federal investment means more federal regulation, which has the potential to limit innovation. 

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