Why the red state of Utah is going green and embracing electric vehicles

Ali Rogin:

Earlier this week, President Trump suspended a program to expand the country's network of electric vehicle chargers. It is latest in a series of efforts to undo Biden era policies encouraging EV adoption. But in some parts of the country, EVs and other low carbon technologies are becoming more popular, not because of government policies, but because they make economic sense. That's what I found when I recently visited Utah, a politically red state where some residents are going green.

Rob Sorensen, EV Owner:

It's usually really beautiful this time of year.

Ali Rogin:

Rob Sorensen is a father of four and a self-described middle of the road conservative.

Rob Sorensen:

I would describe myself as leaning more on the conservative side, but very nuanced as well.

Ali Rogin:

Born and raised in Utah, he's worked insurance here for more than two decades, but you'd be forgiven for thinking he was a professional fiddle player. That's not the only thing about him that's surprising. Despite his conservative politics, he's become a fan of electric vehicles, or EVs, which studies show tend to be more popular with left leaning consumers.

Rob Sorensen:

We never in a million years thought that an EV car would be something we would own just because every time we would look at an electric car it just seemed so expensive.

Ali Rogin:

But that all changed the day he found a fully electric Chevy Bolt for the right price.

Rob Sorensen:

And we ended up picking the car up for $10,000 with 15,000 miles on it. I was blown away.

Ali Rogin:

The cost made an EV far more attractive, but it wasn't just about the price. An added bonus, it's much easier on the environment and Utah already has some of the nation's worst air quality.

Rob Sorensen:

Our family is very into outdoor activities, hiking, biking and different things like that. So we are very conscious of trying to take care of the environment and our surroundings.

Ali Rogin:

Sorensen is far from alone here in solidly Republican Utah. EV registration rates in this state slightly exceeded the national average in the most recent data from 2023.

Josh Craft, Utah Clean Energy:

Folks are very aware intimately of the challenges that we have with air quality, both in terms of our health and also for what it means in terms of the beauty of this state.

Ali Rogin:

Josh Kraft leads government relations and public affairs for Utah Clean Energy, a non-profit organization that advocates for green technology.

Josh Craft:

There is, I think, a real understanding that your vehicle choice matters and that if you can move to a zero emissions, zero tailpipe emissions vehicle, that's going to help everybody.

Ali Rogin:

That's a mindset shared by Republican strategist Mike Murphy, who worked in national Republican politics for decades. Today he leads the EV Politics Project, which hopes to close what he calls the Needless Partisan Divide Over EVs.

For years he said the biggest obstacle for many consumers like Rob Sorensen was high prices. But that's becoming less of a stumbling block.

Mike Murphy, EV Politics Project:

With all the EVs coming off lease, there's a huge supply of used electric vehicles in the market which has depressed prices.

Ali Rogin:

As those prices continue to drop, Murphy believes the political divide over this technology will start to diminish too.

Mike Murphy:

The only thing they fight over is environmental impact. That is important to Democrats. It is an off putting thing to Republicans. Now the price tag appeal, particularly in the used market for EVs is overcoming some of that dogma.

Lee Goodrich, EV Skeptic:

We built the house in 1991.

Ali Rogin:

For many Utahns we met in environmentally friendly choices are less a political issue and more about lifestyle. Lee Goodrich lives on the road to Utah's west desert. For years he worked at a nearby coal plant. But when he built his own home, he had sustainability in mind. Its solar panels, double insulated walls and south facing solarium are designed to heat the whole house.

Ali Rogin:

This house is energy efficient, it's energy independent. Why was that important to you?

Lee Goodrich:

By being energy efficient, you're using less resources, you're making better use of what you have. I've always felt that it's good to be a good steward of the land. If more people did this, that would mean less power plants would have to be built. Even though I worked at one hey.

Ali Rogin:

But he told us he's not yet sold on EVs. He prefers diesel cars for their fuel efficiency and longevity.

Lee Goodrich:

My vehicle can be sent to the scrapyard and reused. You can't reuse the lithium batteries. You can't reuse some of the materials that the car is made with, very little of it.

Ali Rogin:

Goodrich says like this Trump administration, he favors an all of the above approach to energy, including fossil fuels and renewables, though many experts warn continued use of fossil fuels drives climate change. But Goodrich believes that people will make green choices like he does when it makes sense for them.

Lee Goodrich:

That's the problem I have with these people that I call them the so called environmentalists, is that it's all got to be one way.

Ali Rogin:

But across Utah, we found there are signs that this state is actively getting into the renewable energy business.

About an hour outside of Salt Lake City, the Electron Solar Farm houses 1 square mile of solar panels and produces 80 megawatts of power a day. It provides electricity to almost all the government buildings in Salt Lake City, Park City, two ski resorts and a university.

Christine Mikell, Enyo Renewable Energy:

It's really amazing. I don't think I ever really understood the scope and scale.

Ali Rogin:

Christine Mikell is a renewable energy entrepreneur whose company developed electron.

Christine Mikell:

The environment is fantastic now for Korean entrepreneurs in Utah.

Ali Rogin:

She says the state has welcomed renewable projects to meet industry demand, triggered a few years ago by the construction of a massive data center here for Meta, then called Facebook.

Christine Mikell:

They want to have 247 energy renewable energy powering their facilities. And that really proliferated a lot of the solar development in the state of Utah.

Ali Rogin:

Rob Sorenson's family got in on that solar boom, too. They installed panels on their roof a few years ago and said the steep investment has paid off. Their monthly electric bill has been smaller ever since. And even though we could tell Rob Sorensen likes his instruments unplugged, he's gone electric just about everywhere else around the house.

Rob Sorensen:

Our lawnmowers, our weed whackers, everything we've upgraded to electric. And they're not only clean, they're extremely powerful.

Ali Rogin:

He still thinks back to when he was reluctant to dive into the EV market. He told us he bought into an incorrect argument that they're just as dirty because sometimes their chargers are powered by fossil fuels.

Rob Sorensen:

The more I look into it, I realize I didn't know what I was talking about. The thing you have to understand is, well, how much coal? How much coal did it take to drive your 250 miles in your EV car?

Ali Rogin:

That's a question Sorensen believes more and more Utah residents may be asking in the years to come.

Ali Rogin:

And that's our program for tonight. I'm Ali Rogin. For all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us. Have a good week.