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[Text/Observer Network Chen Sijia] According to the U.S. "Business Insider" website on August 4, former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Trump said at a campaign rally in Georgia on the 3rd that since Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become his staunch supporter, he will also support electric vehicles.

"I support electric cars, and I have to because Elon supports me so much, so I don't have a choice," Trump said at the rally.

But Trump later said that he did not support allowing everyone to use electric vehicles. "You want all types of cars, you want fuel cars, you want hybrid cars, but they just want everyone to use electric cars." He also claimed that the construction cost of electric vehicle charging stations is too high, and it would cost "$9 trillion" to build charging stations in the Midwest of the United States.

Screenshot of a video of Trump holding a campaign rally in Georgia, USA

However, the "Business Insider" website pointed out that Trump's statement about the cost of building charging piles is not correct. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by the two parties in the United States plans to allocate $7.5 billion to build thousands of charging stations in the United States.

Trump has repeatedly criticized US President Biden's electric vehicle policy. At the Republican National Convention held last month, Trump accused the Biden administration of issuing an "electric vehicle mandate" to force Americans to buy electric vehicles. He claimed that if he is elected US President, he will immediately cancel the Biden administration's electric vehicle policy after taking office.

But Bloomberg News in the United States said that the Biden administration has never issued a so-called "mandatory policy." The "mandatory order" mentioned by Trump refers to a regulation on automobile exhaust emissions issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in March. This regulation sets strict emission standards for light and medium-duty vehicles, forcing automakers to sell more electric and hybrid vehicles.

The EPA estimates that by 2032, automakers can meet the regulations by increasing electric vehicle sales to 56% of total sales and plug-in hybrid vehicles to 13% of total sales. It is expected that electric vehicle sales in the United States will account for 35% to 56% of total sales from 2030 to 2032. EPA Director Michael Regan emphasized that the new regulations "absolutely do not force the promotion of electric vehicles."

Musk is an advocate of the transition to electric vehicles, and his Tesla is a leader in the electric vehicle industry, but he now chooses to support American conservatives. According to the Business Insider website, Musk has publicly announced his support for Trump since the "attempted assassination" of Trump last month.

However, Musk denied the recent rumors that he "donates $45 million a month to Trump." On July 23, Musk told the US media that he would donate to the super PAC supporting Trump, but the amount would be much smaller. Trump also said at a campaign rally in Michigan that he did not know about Musk's donation.

Although Trump's claims may be detrimental to Tesla, the New York Times said Musk did not seem to care. When asked what he thought of Trump's electric vehicle policy, Musk responded on social media that "everything will be fine."

Conservative analysts believe that Musk and Tesla are unlikely to be harmed no matter how Trump plans to adjust electric vehicle policies.

“Could Trump’s actions undermine the only successful electric car company in the United States? A company with about 150,000 employees, headquartered in Texas, and owned by a major Republican donor who supports Trump?” said James Petokoukis, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.

This article is an exclusive article of Observer.com and may not be reproduced without authorization.