March ‘26 Chapter Call w/ Plug In America’s Joel Levin

Tuesday, March 3, 2026

7pm Via Zoom

Stream the interview below.

With the federal electric vehicle tax credit no longer available and the Trump administration no longer enforcing fuel efficiency standards, EV sales fell at the end of 2025. But EVs are still the future, and with new models arriving this year, an expanding charging network, and affordable EVs available, 2026 may be the best time to upgrade to an EV.

Joel Levin, Executive Director of Plug In America,  joined our chapter call to answer questions about EVs, fact-check anti-EV propaganda, and explain why EVs are still a critical climate solution.

Plug In America is the national consumer voice for electric vehicles in the U.S., with the mission to electrify all transportation. The organization evolved out of a group formed by the earliest EV adopters who tried to stop the destruction of their leased GM EV1s (check out the 2006 documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? for more on this period). Plug In America’s primary focus is accelerating the EV transition for light duty consumer vehicles, and they were very involved in promoting Congressional support for the EV tax credit before the recent administration successfully ended it.

In the interview, Joel shared his perspective on the state of the EV transition, and why it has slowed in the United States. Last year EVs were about 1 in 4 global vehicle sales, but in US EVs were only about 6%. The primary challenges are the policy changes at the federal level and a very organized disinformation campaign against EVs.

An example of the disinformation campaign is the broad perception that EVs are a fire hazard, which is not true at all. Cars that run on gasoline are much more likely to catch on fire and their fires are more likely to be lethal. When EVs catch on fire they can be harder to put out, but they don’t spread as quickly or result in a fireball because of the way the battery packs work.

Joel believes that having divergent powertrains for the U.S. and the rest of the world is unsustainable, and EVs are inevitable for a number of reasons:

• EVs offer a better driver experience, with faster acceleration

• They are more convenient and less expensive to fuel. By charging at home, you can save money and start every day with a fully-charged car

• They require less maintenance. An EV drive train can last virtually forever

Joel also talked about solutions to one of the largest challenges to the EV transition, enabling home charging in multifamily buildings, and touched on China’s affordable EVs and Norway’s nearly complete EV transition.

In addition to leading Plug In America, Joel Levin is also a member of LA Metro’s Sustainability Council and the California Energy Commission Clean Transportation Program Advisory Committee.

You can watch the recording of the interview below.