(ThyBlackMan.com) Why on earth did Ford stop making its heralded electric truck? As Americans shudder at high gasoline prices, prospective truck buyers are lining up at car lots to buy used F-150 Lightning and other electric vehicles. Ford stopped making the F-150 Lightning last December.
There are several reasons American automakers pulled back from an earlier determination to enter the electric era with the rest of the world. And for their customers to be left to scrounge when energy prices revived demand. But the biggest reason is Donald Trump, and here’s an educated guess why he had it in for clean, renewable energy: money.
During the 2024 campaign, Trump pitched the fossil-fuel industry on a promise, since kept, to gut Joe Biden’s fuel-efficiency and climate rules. That helps explain why oil and gas interests poured $23 million into Trump’s reelection coffers, becoming his fourth biggest source of cash.
The Iran War has further raised energy prices, bringing more good news to certain bottom lines. As a recent Wall Street Journal headline put it, “American Oil Refiners Are Printing Money as Wars Shrink Global Energy Supplies.”
We’re not saying that Trump is waging war to help his contributors. What’s clear, however, is that by deep-sixing Biden’s campaign to reduce America’s dependency on fossil fuels, he left Americans vulnerable to the vagaries of their prices. Now he’s turning against Ukraine in its heroic fight against the Russian invasion, apparently to bring more Russian oil and gas back onto world markets. That could lower pump prices and, Trump hopes, save a few Republican seats in Congress.
How did second-term Trump try to kill off the American market for electric vehicles, putting domestic carmakers at a global disadvantage? Count the ways:
— In 2025, Trump pushed Republicans to end the $7,500 tax credit to buy EVs. Ford CEO Jim Farley said that the sharp drop in sales that followed was the main reason his company reconsidered its large EV investments. It’s also why General Motors scaled back, taking a $6 billion charge that included billions in canceled supplier contracts and settlements.
— He greatly weakened the fuel-economy standards for cars and trucks, which had pushed automakers to produce more energy-efficient vehicles.
— He froze money allocated to building EV charging stations. Many Americans who wanted EVs put off getting them for fear of running out of power far from a charging area. Trump wanted to keep those fears alive.
— His Energy Department canceled grants to clean-energy manufacturing programs, including support for making batteries in this country.
And Trump filled media with a drumbeat of dumbo remarks about EVs: They don’t go far, they cost a lot to buy, and they’re made in China. EVs do cost more to buy than comparable gas-powered models, but they are cheaper to maintain and cheaper to power, now very much cheaper.
And yes, they are made in China, where automakers are cleaning the clocks of EV makers in North America and Europe. At the recent Paris Motor Show, Chinese companies represented a third of all brands on display. BYD, the world’s biggest selling EV brand, unveiled an SUV that could fill a battery in about five minutes. Chinese EV automakers now have models that allegedly go over 600 miles on a single charge, and even some of their budget models approach 500 miles.
Chinese EVs sell big in Europe but are pretty much locked out of the American market due to high tariffs and software bans. Trump recently said they’d be acceptable if built in the U.S. That further freaked out Detroit, which still makes some EVs and plans to introduce more.
Trump fought the future. The future won, and Americans are paying the bill.
Written by Froma Harrop
Official website;Â https://twitter.com/FromaHarrop
