Trump says he’s ended the “EV mandate.” What does that mean?

From the countryside track, president Donald Trump was consistent: he would “finish the electric vehicle sent”. So the phrase is not surprising popped up in an executive order that he signed on Monday, a few hours after being sworn into office.

Here’s the catch: the US has never had an EV mandate, or any sort of law or regulation demanding American buyers to go electric. Instead, the previous administration tried to create a series of carrots and sticks designed to make electric vehicles more attractive to both the manufacturers who make them and the people who buy them. An executive order issued yesterday attempts to undo all of that.

But it’s complicated. Experts say the effects of the order are not clear and will likely take some time to take effect. The electric vehicle parts of the order seem more about messaging than immediate practical effects. “A lot of it signals the administration’s intent,” says Timothy Johnson, a professor of energy and environment at the Duke Nicholas School of the Environment. “It’s not clear what the administration will be able to do immediately.”

Meanwhile, car manufacturers continue to make and sell electric vehicles, and consumers continue to be able to buy them. Some stricter emissions standards come into effect at the end of 2026, and it usually takes manufacturers about five years to plan and build a car, meaning cars that follow the next emissions regulations must be built and sold.

US and global automakers have already backed off on some of their most ambitious promises related to EVs, but electrics are still to come. The long-term future of the US auto industry is far from clear. Other governments are still pursuing EV-friendly policies, and critics warn that they will seek increasingly towards the auto industry in China to pass the transition.

One thing that is clear about the future of EVs in the United States: There will be trials.

Incoming reports

Monday’s executive order requires US agencies to review their EV-related rules and determine whether they are “unduly burdensome” and interfere with consumer choice. Those agencies are supposed to write those results in reports, which are due in 30 days.

From there, the bureaucracy begins to grind, says Kathy Harris, who directs the clean vehicles program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “If an agency wants to repeal a regulation, it has to go through the public process,” he says. This means publishing new proposed rules, taking public comments, going back and forth with industry, and then publishing those comments. A lot of paperwork stands between the Trump administration and the eventual cancellation of any EV program.

The clearest way for the White House to loosen the rules that require automakers to make more EVs will be to target the vehicles’ fuel efficiency and tailpipe standards. These require manufacturers to reach certain levels of gas efficiency in all the cars they make in the coming years and to limit the pollutants released. One of the easiest ways in which car manufacturers can reach those goals is to sell more electric vehicles, which do not use gas or emit pollutants from the exhaust pipe. The last time Trump was in office, it took more than three years for his administration to replace Obama-era fuel efficiency standards. This time, agencies could be more efficient and manage to change the rules more quickly, says Harris. However, the process can take months and months.