On last Monday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that he doubts “that Americans in 2050 are still going to be driving that old technology, that combustion technology that we inherited from the 20th century.”
Buttigieg said, “[T]he share of EVs has been dramatically increasing every single year, and that’s continuing. Now, our goal is, by the end of this decade, to be about half-and-half. We think that that can and will happen. But what isn’t guaranteed is, first of all, is that EV revolution going to continue to be made in America? During the Trump administration, China really built a major advantage on EVs. But as somebody who comes from the industrial Midwest, sees how the auto industry creates so much by way of livelihoods where I come from and really around the country, I’m much more excited about the jobs being created on U.S. soil, and that doesn’t just happen. We’ve got to make sure that the U.S. leads the way as this technology changes. I don’t know a lot of people who think that Americans in 2050 are still going to be driving that old technology, that combustion technology that we inherited from the 20th century.”
Host David Asman cut in to say, “Americans like it.”
Buttigieg responded, “Well, no, you’re not going to meet a lot of people who ever go back after they’ve got electric, and I think that really tells you something. That shows you that the lower maintenance, the fact that it costs less to maintain, the fact that they break down [with] less frequency, and the cost savings that you get by not having to buy gas or diesel are I think why you almost never meet somebody who has an EV who says, I want to back to the old technology.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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