Partisan Gap Persists on EVs Despite Permitting Bill Progress

Partisan fault lines emerged Wednesday in a Senate panel over federal support for electric vehicles, even as a different panel was approving a bill that would ease some of the knottiest problems in EV deployment.

The ideological gulf on display before the Senate Budget Committee highlights how little overlap exists between the two parties on EV policy despite years of slow market penetration and manufacturing commitments by nearly all major automakers.

Members of both parties, including chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), agreed that new, upgraded transmission will be needed to power more EVs.

But those ...