Three short months ago, celebration was in the air as the Mahoning Valley’s largest employer — Ultium Cells — celebrated the manufacture of its 100-millionth electric vehicle battery cell. It did so as employment there grew to 2,200 and counting in two years time.

Three months later, partisan edicts from the administration of President Donald Trump have injected fear over the continued growth and vitality of our region as the Voltage Valley of America.

Specifically, Trump’s executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy” slams the brakes on billions of dollars in federal funding to create 500,000 charging stations for EVs across the nation and threatens tax credits and other incentives for purchasers of electrically operated vehicles.

That’s why we urge U.S. House and Senate members of all political stripes — including Republican Reps. Michael Rulli and Dave Joyce, whose districts include the Mahoning Valley, and Ohio’s Republican Sens. Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted — to join 28 Democratic members of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in urging Trump and U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to cancel the ill-advised and counterproductive EV order.

First, questions of legality surface. The $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Act was passed by both chambers of Congress in 2022 as part of the hotly debated Inflation Reduction Act. Any decision on changing course would be the responsibility of elected leaders, not biased bureaucrats.

As a result, the funds already have been promised to the states. Ohio, like most other states, spent months planning detailed strategies for deployment of charging stations across all quadrants of the Buckeye State. All of those efforts and dollars have been squashed by the stroke of a pen.

The loss of the NEVI program funds also translates into the loss of 1,351 job opportunities in Ohio, according to a new study by the Ohio River Valley Institute.

Further, the institute estimates Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky will lose out on $426 million in suspended funding.

Second, the notion held by some in the Trump administration that the EV appropriations constitute “wasteful spending” is misguided and nonsensical. Millions of dollars to support the growth of the burgeoning EV industry in this country have a direct impact on a wide swath of job-growth opportunities not only in vehicle and cell manufacturing but also in construction, electrical work, engineering and project management.

Third, pulling the plug on the NEVI appropriations is ill-timed as the market for electric vehicles continues to grow in Ohio and the nation.

Sales of EVs in 2024 hit an all time-high in America at 1.3 million units. That represents a 7.3% increase over 2023 sales. That growth path is widening with an 8.7% increase of total new EV sales in the U.S. in the second half of last year with projections they’ll hit 10% of total market share this year.

What’s more, the market for global sales for U.S.-manufactured electric vehicles in the global economy has grown at a much faster clip. In China, for example, more than 50% of new vehicle sales last year were for electric or hybrid vehicles. Therefore the Trump rollbacks will likely lessen U.S. automakers’ global competitiveness.

Another myth used to justify the EV funding cuts focuses on cost. Yes, the average EV costs more than the traditional gas guzzler polluters, but that price gap is narrowing. According to caredge.com, in January 2020, the average electric car price was $54,668, or 42% higher than the overall market average. By 2023, the average cost of a new EV was $53,376 or about 10% higher than the average price in the overall new car market.

In addition, some economy electric vehicles, such as the Chevrolet Volt, sell for as little as $27,000.

For our region, the broken promises stand to stab in the heart one of the best hopes for sustained economic revival and stymie the true potential of the Voltage Valley. Even though consumer demand will continue to primarily drive the growth and viability of the EV industry here and elsewhere in the United States, there is no good reason to slow the momentum through unjust partisan political machinations.

As such, we strongly urge constituents in the Valley to denounce the administration’s head-on attack on the EV industry to policymakers and their elected federal representatives in Congress. Those officials should then listen and then act to restore and expand incentives for one of our nation’s and region’s fastest growing and most promising 21st century industries.