Pete Buttigieg mocks Americans who don't want electric cars and claims they are like people in the 'early 2000s' who wanted 'landline phones forever'

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg made fun of Americans who don't want to buy electric cars, claiming they're the same as people didn't want to adapt to cell phones in the 2000s.

It comes as at least eight states run by Democrats like Buttigieg are planning to ban non-electric vehicles by 2032. 

Buttigieg was speaking on Fox News Tuesday afternoon when he was asked about a downturn in sales of Teslas and electric vehicles in general despite Biden's administration pushing them.

He said: 'Let's be clear, the automotive sector is moving toward EVs and we can't pretend otherwise. Sometimes, when these debates happen, I feel like it's the early 2000s and I'm talking to some people who think that we can just have landline phones forever.'

Buttigieg added that the only options were for the US to 'fall behind China or we can claim the lead. President Biden wants to make sure that those EVs are made in America as more Americans choose EVs.' 

He even managed to try and dig at Trump by saying that the former president's administration allowed China to 'build an advantage in the EV market.'

'Obviously not because they're big environmentalists over in China, just because that's the economically smart play. We've been working to make sure that advantage comes back on American soil,' he added. 

Buttigieg said that despite the reported downturn in sales that 'consumers have wanted and purchased more EVs every single year than the year before and Tesla is facing more competition as GM, Ford and other competitors make sure they get a piece of the EV market.'

Wall Street is bracing for the first Tesla sales decline in four years as appetite for electric cars continues to slow.

The last time it saw a year-on-year decline in deliveries was in the first half of 2020 when car makers had to shut down factories due to Covid.

Even with sales down of EVs, Democrats continue to push for them and against gas powered vehicles. 

At least eight states are planning to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars in the next decade - and others are considering joining them. 

Only zero-emission vehicles can be sold in participating states beginning from the 2035 model year, according to the Advanced Clean Cars II legislation. 

The rule, which was first adopted by California, means that automakers and dealerships would be banned from selling new gas cars in these states from that point onwards. 

Americans will not be forced to take their gas-powered cars off the road, however, and will still be able to buy used and secondhand gas vehicles.

These states have gone further than the latest federal legislation announced last week, where the Biden administration released new rules to gradually phase out gas cars by 2032.

The new federal legislation requires automakers to reduce the tailpipe emissions of new vehicles by around 50 percent from model year 2026 to 2032. 

In order to achieve this, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is targeting 35 percent to 56 percent of vehicles needing to be EVs by 2032, and 13 percent to 36 percent needing to be plug-in hybrids by that date. 

It was initially proposed that two thirds of all cars sold by 2030 would need to be EVs, but the brakes were put on that plan last week, giving a concession to carmakers and giving them more ways to comply. 

But carmakers will eventually stop making full gas-powered successors to the beloved muscle cars of the 1960s and 1970s under Biden's new edict.