In 2026, electric cars will become as much a means of transportation as a political test for Rorschach. Nearly half the country is pretty cool with this idea. The other half? Well, you’ll have to pry the V8s out of their cold, dead hands. None of this does electric vehicle adoption any favorsBut the situation has actually improved in recent years.
A new study suggests that the partisan divide is slowly fading. More and more buyers are arriving across the aisle and are open to the idea of electric vehicles everyone Drivers. This is great news for an industry that needs a helping hand now more than ever.
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Welcome back to Critical materialsYour daily report on everything related to electricity and technology in the field of cars. Also on deck: Ram’s CEO says electric vehicles will “take over” and that Europe is offering China a way out of tariff hell. Let’s jump.
25%: EVs are becoming less partisan
A new study from the pro-EV group EVs for all of America It shows that the policy gap hindering electric vehicle ownership is narrowing. The nonprofit has conducted annual surveys of consumer interest in electric vehicles for the past three years and found that Republican resistance to electric vehicles has declined slightly.
In 2023, a majority of Republican voters (59%) agreed that EVs are “for people who see the world differently” than they do, versus 25% of Democratic voters. By November 2025, only 49% of Republicans agreed with the statement, and the percentage of Republican voters who disagreed with the statement rose to 51%. This represents a net improvement of 20 points in just two years.
“The fierce partisan polarization around electric vehicles is declining,” Mike Murphy, a longtime Republican political strategist and CEO of the group, said in a statement Monday.
There are still deep doubts about the right. According to the latest EVs For All America poll, 48% of Republicans say they “probably would never buy an electric car.” Compare that to only 15% of Democrats.
The group argues that early marketing efforts focused on EVs being better for the climate had long-term ramifications. It recommends that manufacturers focus on electric vehicles as a better, more efficient powertrain for most drivers – rather than the greener option. “GOP consumers view electric vehicles not as vehicles, but as statements, especially regarding climate policy,” the report said.
The poll results backed this up: 68% of Republicans agree that climate change “is being exaggerated by the media and we should worry less about it.” Only 7% of Democrats agree with this statement.
The political divide is particularly evident in people’s impressions of one brand: Tesla. Among people seriously interested in purchasing an electric vehicle in the next year or so, only 54% have a positive view of the electric vehicle brand. In comparison, Chevrolet and Cadillac have 76% favorability, Mercedes-Benz 88%, and Toyota 91%.
Unsurprisingly, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is also very polarizing. 67% of Republicans agree that Tesla’s CEO is a “good ambassador for electric vehicle sales,” while 86% of Democrats disagree. It’s clear that although electric vehicles may be a less frontier issue than they used to be, there is still a lot of work to be done.
50%: Ram CEO says electric will ‘take over’ because it’s ‘cool’
Photography: Ram
Tim Kuniskis is known as the father of the Dodge Challenger Hellcat and Charger Hellcat, which means there’s a lot of love for loud, ferocious V8 engines in his heart. But it’s also clear that he has a weakness for electricity.
In a recent interview with drivethe former Dodge CEO and current Ram president, called electrification “brilliant” when it comes to everything drivers and enthusiasts want from a powertrain — torque, responsiveness and efficiency, to name a few. For these reasons, he believes electric cars will remain at the forefront of the automotive future (even if it takes some time to get back on track).
Below is an important excerpt from the CEO’s interview with drive:
On Thursday, in an exclusive interview, Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis told The Drive: “Electrification is great. And at some point, it’s going to take over, you know?”
Kuniskis compared the transition from gas-powered vehicles to electric vehicles when gas-powered cars arrived on the scene when people were still getting around via horses. “The internal combustion engine, the automobile, replaced the horse and buggy because it was better,” Kuniskis said.
Now, Kuniskis makes it clear that there’s nothing wrong with consumers wanting the big, gas-guzzling V8 engines that Dodge, Ram and their sister brands are known for. It is also realistic that regulators, markets and technologies will eventually look in the direction that makes the most sense.
He believes the auto industry has been going too fast and too hard with EVs, but they’re also fundamentally good technology. Interesting to hear from a guy so attached to power-hungry muscle cars and trucks.
“The industry was in transition, and everyone there was beating their chests. They were going to move to 100% electric, and this, that, and this, and at the same time, we were pushing the technology to market,” he said. drive. “I’m not saying we were imposing bad technology.”
75%: Europe offers China to cancel customs duties
Photography: Zakir
Europe has found a solution to the Chinese electric car problem. Instead of imposing hefty tariffs on automakers, the European Commission announced a framework that would help balance the flow of imports and fair trade.
This framework would allow automakers of all origins to continue importing vehicles from China, as long as they voluntarily limit the number of vehicles brought in annually and agree to minimum prices.
Settlement overview, from New York Times:
The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, said it was developing a procedure for automakers to voluntarily set limits on the number of electric cars they ship from China to Europe. Automakers will also set the minimum prices at which they will sell these cars.
Automakers that limit the number of imported electric cars and pledge price floors could be exempt from anti-subsidy duties of up to 35% imposed by the European Commission in late 2024 on electric cars coming from China.
For Europe, this is damage limitation. It allows the EU to protect domestic carmakers from a tidal wave of well-priced foreign cars – while still giving consumers a choice of what they buy. It may also help non-Chinese automakers importing Chinese-made cars into Europe, such as Volkswagen.
But China is not completely satisfied with this solution. The country’s Ministry of Commerce says automakers and factories should negotiate as a single bloc, which could give more negotiating power to importers in the country as a whole.
Could this be the solution that Europe offers to Chinese imports? maybe. The European Union tried this before in 2013 using solar panels. New York Times Notes, its domestic market is still surrendering to the unstoppable Chinese manufacturing power. Whether or not EVs will be different is TBD.
100%: Do Chinese electric cars have a place in America?
Photo by: Xiaomi
According to this previous survey, 49% of buyers under 44 are open to electric cars from Chinese brands, compared to only 14% of older buyers. People seem to see the technology and the price and are really interested in what companies like BYD and Xiaomi have to offer.
Hell, even Ford’s CEO admitted that electric cars from abroad are a lot of fun to drive. The only thing stopping China from coming to the United States He is United States (or so it seems).
So it’s time to ask your question: Are you interested in an electric car from China in the United States? Which one?
