Electric vehicle sales have more than quadrupled since President Biden took office, marking progress on one of the administration’s energy goals: to expand adoption of clean transportation and develop a nationwide EV charging network.

To that end, the Biden administration funded the rollout of a 500,000-public-charger network with $7.5 billion included in the bipartisan infrastructure act law. In addition, the Inflation Reduction Act extended tax credits of up to $7,500 for buyers of qualified, new clean vehicles, and up to $4,000 for the purchase of used clean vehicles.

Observers say the rollout of the national network has been slower than hoped but the chargers are essential to expanding U.S. EV uptake.

With the U.S. election in just five days, stakeholders say the next president will have some sway over EV policy, including whether purchase incentives and infrastructure programs are slowed or rolled back. But the extent of the president’s impact will also depend on the makeup of the next Congress, they noted.

However, the situation is less clear around the EV purchase credits. A full repeal of the tax credits would require Congressional approval, but observers say a Trump administration could take steps through the federal rulemaking process to make implementation of the credits less effective.

“Trump has explicitly said they want to look at repealing the EV tax credit. So that is something that could be at risk, if there is a Trump presidency,” Robinson said.

But infrastructure projects, like charging stations, are likely to maintain support, even with another Trump presidency, Robinson said. “There have been economic impacts, and I think there’s enough support for building infrastructure projects,” Robinson said. “I think a lot of that would remain, but the EV tax credit is definitely, I would say, at risk, looking toward November.”

The conversation around EVs needs to stay focused on growing the U.S. economy and strengthening the country’s leadership in the automotive sector, said Gore and Prochazka.

Support for reshoring manufacturing

People are “more inclined to see this as a good thing when they see the fact that it’s driving a lot of investment in their community,” Gore said. “There is support for tax policy that is ... reshoring manufacturing in the United States. And it’s not just one project; it’s actually a whole ecosystem.”

“EVs have been put into this position of being a partisan issue, and we need to do everything possible to remove that. They really shouldn’t be. It’s much more about competitiveness,” said Prochazka.

The next two or three years “are some of the most important, in terms of the speed by which this transition takes place,” Prochazka addded. “We’re just now at that space where EVs travel far enough to feel like they meet consumer concerns. We’re just now building enough infrastructure to feel like we’re demonstrating to consumers that they will have the ability to charge wherever they want to go, or need to go.”

Neither Vice President Kamala Harris nor former President Donald Trump has made EV-specific policy proposals, though Trump told Reuters in August that he would consider ending the vehicle purchase tax credits. Project 2025, organized by the Heritage Foundation, lays out a potential road map for a second Trump administration and calls for eliminating EV purchase incentives. The Trump campaign has sought to distance itself from the plan, however Trump has also said he will not mandate that U.S. consumers purchase EVs.

Experts say they anticipate Harris will continue her support for policies launched under the Biden administration. In Michigan, earlier this month, she vowed to “ensure that the next generation of breakthroughs, from advanced batteries to electric vehicles, are not only invented but built right here in America by American union workers.” Harris also distanced herself from talk of a mandate, however. “I will never tell you what kind of car you have to drive,” she said.

The candidates’ campaigns did not respond to requests for comment.

The upcoming election is “incredibly relevant” to clean transportation policy, said Ben Prochazka, executive director of the Electrification Coalition, a nonprofit that works to advance EV adoption. “There’s a lot of programs that have been set up over the last three-plus years ... and certainly there’s been a lot of intensity, in general, with the idea of EVs.”