Electric vehicles are gaining more political attention. President Joe Biden has said transitioning to electric vehicles will boost domestic manufacturing and enhance supply chains. Republicans like former President Donald Trump have argued that EVs have adverse environmental impacts and could negatively impact the auto industry.

Straight Arrow News contributor David Pakman argues that critics of EVs are mistaken. He contends that electric vehicles are not only environmentally friendly but also predicts that the industry will generate a significant number of new jobs for the American economy.

The public charging infrastructure industry is going to explode and will lead to the people involved in the manufacture of the chargers, the people involved in the installation of the chargers, the people involved in the maintenance of the chargers, the people involved selling and marketing the chargers — it’s going to be an endless, huge new industry in and of itself. More electric vehicles means more public chargers. That’s a new industry as well.

Three — we often hear if everybody got an electric vehicle today, the grid couldn’t handle it. Well, that depends on where you are. But grid upgrades and improvements is [sic] going to also generate a whole bunch of new jobs.

What about some of the materials that are used for electric vehicle batteries? Well, because a lot of those materials are finite and valuable, the recycling and reuse of the materials that go into electric vehicle batteries will in and of itself create jobs as well. And in addition to this, as more people get electric vehicles and they go, “Okay, I’ve got the EV, but I’m still getting my electricity to charge the EV from coal,” people will say, “I’d rather get it from wind, I’d rather get it from solar, I’d rather get it from geothermal.” The demand for wind, solar and geothermal will go up, and that will generate new jobs.