Tim Echols is a bona fide a conservative. The Georgia public service commissioner is an ordained evangelical minister, is solidly against abortion and founded a nonprofit to help teens understand the political process and “defend their Christian faith.” But there’s one place where he’s a little out of step with his political colleagues: Echols is also evangelical about electric vehicles.
The guy loves them, owns three and is on a crusade to get fellow conservatives on board. That’s why the Echols’ family Nissan Leaf is often out on loan to a Georgia politician. “I think a lot of Republicans have kind of written off electric vehicles without giving them a chance, without owning one,” Echols explained.
“I feel like I’m winning hearts and minds, one legislator at a time.” Easier case to make in Georgia To be sure, it’s an easier case to make in Georgia: A tide of federal incentives has brought a windfall of industrial jobs making electric vehicles and the parts to build them. Echols, however, is concerned that tide may turn if Donald Trump wins back the White House.
When Trump sat down with Bloomberg Businessweek in June, he offered a convoluted take on battery-powered cars. “I have no objection to the electric vehicle,” he said, while immediately airing a laundry list of objections, including cost and range. In the months since, EVs have been parked squarely in the presidential candidate’s stump speech with a serial promise to “end the electric v.
