Here are highlights from the latest episodes of 'Daily Drive', Automotive News' weekday podcast, June 20-23, hosted by Jamie Butters with Kellen Walker.
"I say that there are three buckets that we need for EVs to be successful. And the first is vehicles need to be affordable. And they're not affordable for too many Americans right now. The tax incentive helps make those vehicles affordable as we scale up."--U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., above, on whether Congress will revisit federal tax incentives for electric vehicle buyers. The current $7,500 tax credit phases out after an automaker sells 200,000 EVs — a threshold both General Motors and Tesla have met.
"If things get bouncy, the reason I'm not so worried is we've been dealing with nothing but bouncy for the last two and a half years."--Scott Keogh, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, on rising interest rates and the threat of a possible recession
"Building a national network — like building the interstate highway back in the '50s and beyond in the '60s — you're building it everywhere. There are some parts of the interstate that don't see a lot of traffic, but if you don't have it, you don't have an interstate system. And same thing here with charging. Some of these will not be as utilized. But it's important. It's an essential service to be able to fuel your vehicle as you're going across the country."--Michael Berube, senior official with the U.S. Department of Energy, on efforts to build a nationwide EV charging network
"We have to do what the government tells us to do in terms of how we make these vehicles. Consumers don't have to buy them. And that's the thing that they have to make sure that the administration recognizes and that Congress recognizes. So we're all-in on those goals, but we're going to have to have those policies in order to be able to match up and make these things happen."--David Strickland, GM vice president of global regulatory affairs, on automakers' push for federal help to encourage mass adoption of EVs
— Listen to these and other shows at autonews.com/dailydrive.
