Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg insisted Tuesday that the automobile industry is moving toward a future of selling electric vehicles exclusively despite dipping sales.
Buttigieg was asked about the recent dip in Tesla’s quarterly sales, marking the first time for the electric automaker in its sales history. In response, Buttigieg argued that part of this dip stems from a growing number of competitors that Tesla now faces in the electric vehicle market, including Stellantis and General Motors.
“Let’s be clear that the automotive sector is moving towards EVs, and we can’t pretend otherwise,” Buttigieg said on Fox News’s America Reports. “Sometimes when these debates happen, I feel like it’s the early 2000s and I’m talking to some people who think that we just have landline phones forever. The reality is that the automotive sector is moving towards EVs, and the U.S. can either fall behind China or we can claim the lead. President Biden wants to make sure that those EVs are made in America, especially again as more Americans choose EVs every single year than the year before.”
Buttigieg also pushed back against the idea that consumers are not ready to part with gasoline vehicles in order to purchase an electric vehicle. He pointed to how there is a low number of people who choose to go back to their gas-powered vehicle after making the switch to an EV.
The secretary admitted that electric vehicles are “not for everybody” and that the market would not shift overnight but stressed that it is important for the United States to compete with China in the electric vehicle market to not let the overseas country take the lead.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Buttigieg’s comments come after the Biden administration announced last month that it would impose lower auto tailpipe emissions requirements through 2029 and would not require as many pure electric vehicles to be sold. The administration’s scaleback has taken place against the backdrop of the 2024 elections. It has also received pushback from Republican lawmakers over its emphasis on electric vehicles.
Amid the growing number of automakers producing electric vehicles, one of the major companies that will not delve into the market is Apple, which announced that it was scrapping its work on its electric vehicle project. The project, titled “Project Titan,” began in 2014 and had a total of 2,000 people working on it.