Trump calls EV range anxiety a "disease" in Las Vegas speech

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Trump called EV range anxiety a “disease” during remarks in Las Vegas.

No federal rule ever required Americans to purchase an electric vehicle.

EVs held a 5.8 percent U.S. market share in the second quarter.

Electric cars do not work for everybody. They can be a terrible fit for apartment dwellers without dependable charging, certain rural routes, and buyers who regularly tow long distances. But President Trump took the familiar issue of range anxiety and turned it into “a disease” during remarks in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

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Speaking at the Red Rock Resort, Trump claimed he had “ended the electric mandate,” before suggesting that previous policy would have required everyone to drive an EV “within a very short period of time.” He said EV drivers begin worrying about where to charge when their battery is still three-quarters full, calling them “crazy.” These are real statements that were said out loud.

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There is a real point buried beneath all the theatrics. Public charging still needs work, especially outside major metro areas and on parts of America’s vast rural highway network. Someone who cannot charge at home has a very different EV ownership experience than someone who plugs in every night, and long-distance travel requires more planning than filling a gas tank.

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Still, calling that a disease is silly. A driver who sees a charger 89 miles off-route might reasonably factor that into the trip, but three-quarters of a battery is generally not panic territory in a modern EV. For most people who can charge at home, it is barely something they think about day to day.

The claim that there was “no way” to charge electric cars does not hold up either. The Department of Energy’s charging database now shows more than 250,000 public charging ports nationwide. That does not make the network perfect, reliable, or evenly distributed, but it is a far cry from nonexistent.

Trump also said EVs account for 7 percent of U.S. vehicle sales. The latest Kelley Blue Book estimates put the second-quarter figure at 5.8 percent, so the larger point is fair. EV demand has cooled sharply since its 2025 peak. That is a real market correction automakers cannot ignore. But it’s also partially a byproduct of Trump’s move to end the $7,500 federal EV tax credit.

What is not accurate is the idea that Americans faced a federal order to buy an electric car by 2030. Biden’s policy set a 50 percent target for new zero-emission vehicle sales, while emissions and fuel-economy rules pressured automakers to sell more of them. Trump’s own 2025 executive order targeted those policies, subsidies, and California’s waiver, not a retail rule forcing somebody to trade their F-150 for a Model Y. EVs are not a universal answer. Neither is pretending the people who buy them are sick.

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