Former President Donald Trump spent a portion of his speech in Georgia Saturday promising to end government support for one of Georgia’s fast growing industries, electric vehicles.
“Now they want to give you all electric cars. Does anybody want to drive for an hour and then wait four hours to get to recharge?” he asked the Georgia delegates. “First day in office, I’ll be ending all of that.”
Ending support for EV companies would run counter to Gov. Brian Kemp’s embrace of EV companies in his time in office. Kemp has promised to make Georgia the “electric mobility capital of America,” and wooed major corporations with generous tax credits.
Those tax incentives, along with new federal investments in green energy, have resulted in historic levels of investment from electric vehicle companies in the state. Rivian is building a $5 billion EV plant east of Atlanta, while Hyundai recently broke ground on a $7 billion EV mega-plant outside of Savannah.
In his inaugural speech in January, Kemp said the electric mobility industry has accounted for 35 new manufacturing projects in the state valued at $23 billion and accounting for tens of thousands of new jobs.
