EVs to address inequity?

I don’t have time to do a deep dive on this, but this LA Times article struck me: Gas prices are widening the wealth gap between wealthy and poor Americans (May 7, 2026). Key take-away: “Lower-income Americans sharply reduced their gas consumption in the month following the Iran war, yet spiking prices still forced them to spend more at the pump, worsening the economy’s economic disparities...” This is likely especially true in California, as I ruminated on yesterday.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. The price for electricity hasn’t really moved, even with everything going on. I mean, yeah, it’s trending upwards, nationally it’s gone up (for residential customers) about 38% in the last ~10 years, from $.1255 to $.1730 per kilowatt hour. But, e.g., for the Solterra, that’s a difference of about $3.09 to “fill up” from 10% SOC to 90% SOC. That is a far cry from the leap in gas prices we’ve seen just from the Iran conflict, which shot up ~50% in just two months², and was generally 30-60% higher in cost per mile driven to begin with. (And though this is niche and, today, expensive, you can even go fully off grid with an EV, e.g., with a DartSolar Blade or GoSun setup.)

As far back as March 2022, Forbes noted this: Electric Vehicles Don’t Have To Be Elitist - They Can Erode Social Inequities. And a lot has changed since then. Ranges are up, prices are down: The Rise of the High-Range, Less Expensive E.V. (New York Times, Apr 27 2026). “Used EV prices have fallen sharply, making many models available for under \(\$25,000\) and often providing better value than traditional used cars.” says Google AI. Charging deserts are still a thing (I learned as I crossed a literal desert), though, e.g., Walmart is rolling out EV charging infrastructure at its stores, and their goal is a coast-to-coast network by 2030, targeting 90% of the U.S. population that lives within 10 miles of a Walmart. Leading the Charge: Walmart Announces Plan To Expand Electric Vehicle Charging Network (Walmart Apr 6 2023). Too, “President Biden’s 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law aimed to address EV charging deserts with $7.5 billion to build a national network of 500,000 public chargers by 2030.” (Google AI.) But, then, “[I]n early 2025, the U.S. Department of Transportation paused the program for a review.” (Id.)

Which brings me to this: You know what really grinds my gears? The hostility towards EVs from the very people who could most benefit from them, and the politicians who think they’re “owning the libs” (or whatever; winning culture war⁴ points?) by attacking EVs and EV infrastructure. The GOP’s electric car attacks crash into Dems’ closing message (Politico Oct 21 2024)

You don’t have to dip too far into the comments section on any positive EV news article posted to social media to find the “EVs suck” comments (Exhibit A). Pew Center Research Polling in June of 2023 found a striking divide (What Americans think about an energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables):

[G]roups who are more open to purchasing an EV in the future include Democrats (56% say they are at least somewhat likely to give this serious consideration), people who live in urban areas (48%), and young adults ages 18 to 29 (48%).

On the other hand, a majority of Republicans (70%), those who live in rural areas (65%) and adults ages 65 and older (59%) say they are not too or not at all likely to seriously consider an electric vehicle for their next purchase.

Trump killed the $7,500 EV tax credit, much to Elon Musk’s consternation³. You have bizarre stunts like this: North Carolina Looks to Remove Public EV Chargers, Probably to the Trash (Car and Driver Jul 7 2022) (“A bill currently in the works in the North Carolina legislature would allocate $50,000 to get rid of free public EV chargers unless free gas pumps are built alongside”). 

(The thing is, EV chargers are cheap and easy to deploy. There’s no fuel storage, little maintenance, for L2 charging you just need a 240V circuit. Disneyland has hundreds of relatively low cost EV charging stations people can use while they spend a day at the parks. Santa Monica Airport has free solar powered EV charging with a stand-alone unit. Etc. No tanks to keep filled or maintained, etc. If you’re connected to the grid and have electrical power for everything else on premises, you can easily support EV charging. In my opinion we should be incentivizing EV adoption, still; maybe the time has passed for free charging, but municipalities, businesses, can and should provide charging where it makes sense. Like Walmart is doing (supra). But I digress.

Sigh. It’s frustrating.

¹ The article cites: Same Shock, Different Roads? A K‑Shaped Pattern at the Pump (Federal Reserve Bank of New York, May 6, 2026)

² U.S. gasoline prices rise 50% since the start of the Iran war (PBS, May 5, 2026)

³ Tesla Shares Slide as Musk Feuds With Trump (New York Times, Jun 5, 2025)

⁴ How electric cars became a battleground in the culture wars (The Guardian Aug 4 2023)