The electric car dream has transformed into a requirement that, in 2025, appears to require a shift in the federal approach.

“I don’t like giving Trump a win,” said Representative Lou Correa (CA D-46) , of California. Even so,  he joined thirty-four Democrats recently on a Republican effort to repeal his state’s landmark requirement that all new vehicles sold in California needed to be electric or non-polluting by 2035. “We just finished an election where every poll I’m seeing, everybody I talk to, says, ‘You guys need to listen to the working class, the middle-class people,'” Mr. Correa said. “I’m listening to my constituents who are saying, ‘Don’t kill us.'”

In a very complex political moment, politicians who support an energy shift are finding themselves precariously sifting through public opinion to determine the pace of that transition and how government regulation should be used to help.  Simultaneously, they are faced with a new administration that seems to have a clear view of the future of American cars.

What Should We Take From This Vote?

The 246-to-164 vote in the House was a bolt from the blue for many environmentalists. Some observers credited intense lobbying from the oil and gas lobby. Others attributed the vote to changing views of such federal regulations in the new........

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