On 7/31/2024, Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee discussed ways to boost U.S. electric vehicle manufacturing to be more competitive globally. Graham, a South Carolina Republican, requested the hearing. He pointed out several times the automotive industry’s importance to the state. South Carolina is a national leader in vehicle assembly and the top tire exporter in the country, according to the state’s Department of Commerce.

Graham said the future of vehicle manufacturing is in electric vehicles and urged policies to remain competitive in the global automobile market. His position was out of step from many in his party. Graham, a Trump ally and a staunchly conservative lawmaker, embraced the idea of U.S. electric vehicle manufacturing and looked to strengthen U.S. infrastructure. “So the bottom line is: This is coming, whether we like it or not,” Graham said. “And I think there’s an upside to it, to be honest with you.” Graham raised the question of where the power will come from to fuel a larger fleet of electric cars.

“Grid demand will go through the roof,” if half of cars in use are electric, he said. “How can you generate enough power to accommodate electric vehicles?”

Jesse Jenkins, a professor of engineering and energy systems at Princeton University, said by 2035 electric vehicles will consume 17% of current total U.S. electricity.

“To put it another way, by 2035, EVs will consume nearly as much electricity as is produced today by the entire fleet of nuclear power plants or all non hydro-renewables combined,” Jenkins said.

Britta Gross, the director of transportation at the Electric Power Research Institute, said strain on the grid from electric vehicles could be minimized by charging at off-peak hours.

Graham also pressed witnesses about China’s position in the global electric vehicle market, asking Maureen Hinman, co-founder and chairwoman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, a bipartisan economic policy institute, if Chinese dominance in the market was “irreversible.”

“Absolutely not,” Hinman said. “I think the U.S. and its allies and friends, if we move quickly to create agile, responsive and coordinated policies, could flip the script and reestablish market dynamics in a global economy.”

Not all Republicans on the committee were as welcoming to the electric vehicle conversation as Graham. Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana pressed witnesses on the need for subsidies, repeatedly asking “if they’re so swell, how come we have to pay people to buy them?”

Kennedy speculated that many Americans have to be incentivized to buy electric vehicles because they are more expensive to operate. The median household income in Louisiana is $55,000 a year, which is below the national median, he pointed out.

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Graham’s position on EVs out of step from many in GOP (see Kennedy on EV subsidies)