Remember when electric vehicles were all the rage? During the Biden administration, Congress allocated $5 billion to building out a nationwide EV-charging network.
Of that, the state of Michigan was promised $110 million, half of which has already been allocated. The other half is currently in limbo after a memo from the Trump administration paused EV infrastructure deployment plans.
EV driver Rene Dell and UAW union steward and truck driver Terrance McFadden explained how much the landscape has changed for real metro Detroiters.
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“I feel like the number of EVs on the road continues to increase and I felt like the number of chargers was increasing," Dell said. "I was seeing more and more chargers. More chargers were popping up on my charging map, and I was hopeful that this was going to trending up northern Michigan, because it’s more remote areas that seem to lack the charging facilities. And so now that it’s come to a halt, I’m wondering what the future of the infrastructure in Michigan is going to look like."
McFadden delivers parts to auto manufacturing plants and frequently interacts with auto workers. He remembers the early days of the push to ramp up EV manufacturing in Michigan.
“What a lot of those people were feeling was fear because they didn’t know where the market was going," McFadden said.
He says he thinks people will oppose deadlines to buy EVs and he’d like to see the automakers listen to the market when making production decisions.
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“I think that as far as importance goes, EVs could potentially be the lifeblood of our city. We’ll just go from the Motor City to the electric Motor City," McFadden said. “Being the Motor City, the world does watch us in terms of vehicles and we have to remain on the cutting edge. And I believe that it really does require the metro Detroit market as well as the state of Michigan to continue to have the infrastructure so that people will invest in the technology, so that people will buy the electric vehicles.”
Marrick Masters is a professor of business emeritus at Wayne State University. He believes there has been a "rude awakening" in the EV industry.
"Companies have realized that the transition to EVs, and this is even before Trump came to office, was not going to be as smooth and rapid as they had thought," Masters said. "But the train has left the station, in the sense that the future will be EV. Whether it’s a combination in the shorter term of hybrids, plug-in electrical and battery-electrical vehicles."
When asked what advice he would give to auto manufacturers, Masters said they should focus on establishing a competitive business without the need for government assistance.
"Once they do that, they will be in a position to compete anywhere in the world," he said. "And until they do that, they’re going to find themselves increasingly at a disadvantage and at the mercy of changes in administration policies."
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Glenn Stevens Jr. is the executive director of MichAuto at the Detroit Chamber. They work with all auto industry stakeholders across Michigan and advocate for policy for the industry.
"I don't think that the vehicle companies, suppliers and research institutions have changed the fact that they’re trying to develop better chemistries, better manufacturing processes," Stevens said. "But what we do know in D.C. right now is there’s a tremendous amount of change. And we know that federal funding for electrification projects is in question or on hold or on pause."
Stevens also believes government support and promotion did have an impact.
“There was a rush," he said. "And maybe what we did was get a little bit ahead of what true market demand is. But it hasn’t stopped. Market forces are going to work globally and we do know that the Chinese auto industry, which didn’t exist just the other day, is a global threat to us both around the world and potentially here in North America that we need to be prepared."
This story was originally published by Mike Duffy with the Scripps News Group.
