If it’s really the case, as Tenneco’s chief technologist says, that internal combustion (gasoline and/or diesel) engine cars are now or will very soon be cleaner than even the best battery-electric scenario, companies who have put all of their eggs in the battery-electric basket need to prepare for legislative headwinds:
Subsidies: At best, dramatically reduced. More likely, abolished ASAP.
Penalties: Electric cars to be taxed more than gasoline cars, potentially banned outright.
Tesla emptied all its chambers in the third quarter of 2016 anticipating a Hillary Clinton win that may have yielded more subsidies, government loans or other legislative preferences. That would have papered over the bleak outlook for the fourth quarter of 2016 and all of 2017. Instead, the legislative cover for which Tesla had planned now looks like a potential legislative nightmare.
