"Minnesotans certainly know that old adage, 'You need to skate where the puck is going to be,'" Walz told reporters at the time. "The puck is going to be in EVs. And that is irrefutable," he added.

To be sure, it’s unclear just how much Musk’s political alignment with Trump and other EV opponents has hurt Tesla. But it is inevitably bad for business when the very prominent face of an EV company is so deeply unpopular with the demographic group who is most likely to buy electric cars.

Despite sensationalist headlines about the decline of electric vehicles, most EV drivers are not clamoring to return to a life of gas pumps and analog transmissions. Battery electric vehicles remain the clear path forward. However, the mix of vehicles is adapting to new automaker lineups and consumer preferences, particularly between now and 2030.

You’ve heard it everywhere, or some variation of it. It’s never a contest claim, but an obvious truth, often leading into the meat of the sentence. “As EV growth stalls” or “In a market where consumers prefer hybrids to EVs.” The message is always clear: The EV revolution has burned out. Proceed to business as usual. There’s only one issue with that messaging: It is absolutely false. You’re being lied to. EV sales aren’t stalling here. In a “down year,” where growth has been slower than expected, EV sales are handily outpacing conventional car sales growth, both at home and abroad. The revolution is in full swing. It might just take a bit longer than anticipated. But “slower than expected growth” and “stalled progress” aren’t synonymous.

The "EV slowdown" is overblown. It's internal-combustion cars that are on their way out. When you look past the gloomy headlines and take a broader view, a clear trend emerges: The internal combustion engine is dying out.