WHITE HOUSE BOOSTS COST OF DRIVING

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.