Yeah, by "force people to buy EVs" i just meant that at least in certain states you will have no choice if you need a vehicle but to buy an EV. I agree it should be up to the states but there might be something in the Interstate Commerce Act that allows the Federal government to interfere here. Whether Trump would actually try it or not, I have no idea.
But yeah, definitely hyperbole. He could mean a lot of things. Less subsidies, higher tariffs on EVs from China, attempting to block laws banning ICE vehicles, trying to stop the Federal government from purchasing EVs, etc. But obviously he isn't going to literally "end EVs". I could be wrong but I don't even think Trump is intentionally lying or exaggerating when he says things like this. It's just how he sees it and how he speaks. Newspaper headlines always treat what he says as if he is being absolutely literal. Clearly that isn't the case. At least that has always been clear to me and I've always assumed that has been clear to the vast majority of people. Bad assumption on my part probably. If Trump is actually speaking to policy (as opposed to just campaigning) he will usually go into details on what he intends but that doesn't make for good sound bytes or headlines.
Indeed, if you read articles on this, it is Biden's policies of tax breaks, subsidies, investments in charging infrastructure (does the government invest in gas station infrastructure?), etc. that Trump opposes. On that, i agree with him. I think EVs are an inevitability. However, I don't think trying to force adoption is a good idea. Let the market drive the change. On top of that, the headlines are absolutely ridiculous. Speaking in an economic sense, Trump said that Biden's policies would cause a "bloodbath" in the auto industry and "kill" jobs. True or not, the headline NBC uses is downright ominous: "With violent rhetoric, Trump fights electric vehicles to defeat Biden in Michigan". It makes it sound like Trump is calling for riots or something.
Just to clarify, people in CA will still have choices... they'll be able to buy second-hand ICE cars, they'll be able to buy new ICE cars from Interstate and buy new EVs. To be honest I'm not sure how it'll go because I'm not sure CA will have the charging infrastructure in place... but I'm curious to see how it goes.
Globally the Oil and Gas industry got $7 trillion in subsidies from governments, so I'm honestly more than happy with EV subsidies to level the playing field. I think with things like auto manufacturing, you can't really let the market decide... because it's so hard to build a car profitably, car makers are always going to make what's most profitable to them, not what people actually want... because people don't really have alternatives.
Same with things like housing... developers build luxury apartments because that's what's most profitable... not because that's what people want or need.
Honestly, it's so hard for me to take anything Trump says seriously... I genuinely feel like he just says what people want to hear and then does what he wants later.