Don’t look now, but the Trump White House is changing the cost of your driving commute.
Maybe
you missed this news, perhaps disturbed (yet unsurprised) by our President’s
daily tirades… attacking Somalis as “garbage”
one day, pardoning
a convicted drug smuggler the next or his continued threats of invading
Venezuela. How easily we miss the
real news by getting distracted by these “bright, shiny objects”.
We
all know that Connecticut drivers must cope with some of the highest gas
prices, longest commutes, and oldest highways in the Northeast. Now Washington has decided to dramatically weaken
fuel-economy standards for new cars, cutting the 2031 target from roughly
50 mpg to about 34. This threatens to
make things worse for everyone, especially current and future electric-vehicle
owners.
On
the surface, the rollback is pitched by the White House as a win for “affordable
cars,” claiming that these relaxed MPG rules will shave maybe $900 off the
cost of a new gas-powered SUV. But for
Connecticut commuters who routinely log 12,000–15,000 miles a year, those
savings will evaporate quickly: cars
that burn more fuel cost more to operate, and in a pricey state like ours, the
pump always gets paid.
But
the bigger, less obvious impact of the mileage rules will be on
electric-vehicle drivers, the very people who bought into the promise of lower
operating costs, cleaner air, and a modernized transportation system.
According
to the Connecticut DMV, there are 2.7
million cars and trucks in our small state.
But only about 60,000
of them are EVs.
For those current EV owners, the MPG rollback creates more uncertainty… beyond just finding a charging station. EV resale values depend on strong future demand. So when Washington signals that gasoline-powered cars will stay dominant longer, that EV market may sputter. Fewer people will shop for EVs, fewer choose them, and used EV prices will likely soften.
Federal
tax
incentives (up to $7500) for new EV buyers already expired this fall but
some Connecticut
rebates continue… for now.
Then
there’s the EV charging network — or, more accurately, the charging network we
were promised. Federal programs
launched with great fanfare in 2021 pledged 500,000 publicly available chargers
nationwide. But fewer
than 400 federally funded chargers have actually been built under the $7.5
billion program.
In
Connecticut, fast-charging deserts for thirsty EVs persist across Litchfield
County, the Quiet Corner, and shoreline towns east of New Haven. Even Fairfield County’s charging stations,
while more plentiful, are frequently congested or out of service.
For
future EV buyers, the rollback removes one of the biggest forces pushing
automakers to build affordable electric models. Without strict fuel-economy rules, carmakers
can meet federal requirements by selling profitable gas-powered SUVs rather
than investing in lower-cost EVs that would appeal to everyday drivers. The
result? Slower arrival of mid-priced EVs, the very models that would make ‘going
electric’ a realistic choice for middle-class families in these tight times.
Remember
four years ago when Elon Musk promised us a Tesla for $25,000? In fact the new entry-level models now cost
about $37,000 or more.
Here
in Connecticut, where we import every gallon of fuel we burn, a slowdown in EV
adoption is more than an environmental setback. It’s an economic one. More money will leave the state for
out-of-region fuel suppliers. And an
unreliable, underbuilt charging network threatens to stall our transportation
future.
The
real bottom line? You may find new gas-powered
cars will be cheaper, but the cost of driving them will go up in (exhaust)
smoke.
