West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey blasted the Biden administration for its “massive and hasty shift” toward electric vehicles, warning the president that the United States isn’t ready for the takeover.
“I fully understand the politics behind your efforts to push for an all-EV future. But as President, you have a duty to ground your administration’s policies in reality, not paranoia and fear,” Morrisey wrote in a letter to President Joe Biden on Friday. “The American people deserve to be served by a President who admits when he has gotten something wrong or gone too far, too fast.”
On Tuesday, Virginia Democrats defeated Republican efforts seeking to overturn the state’s EV mandate aimed at lowering carbon emissions. For the third time in recent years, Democrats upheld the state’s Clean Cars Act, approved in 2021, which was adopted from California’s controversial standard. The mandate requires 35% of new cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs sold in Virginia with a 2025 model year to be electric and 100% zero emissions by 2035.
As millions are under a winter weather warning this week, Morrisey cited reports stating EVs are less efficient in cold temperatures. A 2019 study by the American Automobile Association found EVs can lose as much as 12% of their range in 20-degree Fahrenheit.
“This very cold and snowy weather pattern we’re experiencing has revealed that our power grid cannot support this massive push for EVs from the Biden administration — its woke agenda is placing more strain and demand on our nation’s electrical energy grids. At the same time, this administration has taken dramatic measures to weaken our grids,” Morrisey said.
On top of EVs faring poorly in cold weather, Morrisey said software problems have also posed a threat. This month, General Motors halted the sale of its 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV as the company sorts out software bugs plaguing the infotainment system.
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“I urge you to reconsider your EV policies in light of this new information,” Morrisey added. “EVs are simply not ready for prime time, as the recent cold-weather incidents and so many other negative experiences show. Greater adoption of EVs must await the further development of this new technology.”
Morrisey, who announced his candidacy for governor this week, is co-leading a coalition of 25 states in asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s emission standard, which gives guidance to states on how to limit air pollution under the Clean Air Act.