Washington is holding up a future of inexpensive EVs

We all know how that turned out. Japanese companies, as well as Korean and German automakers, built a flock of nonunion plants, mainly in the South. Thousands of people applied for jobs, the factories fueled local economies, and the protectionist solution backfired. Unable to stave off the onslaught, Detroit lost market share and closed factories. American car companies said the restraints would give them time to cut costs and improve their vehicles' quality and fuel economy. If the Japanese wanted to sell more vehicles than the limits allowed, they would have to build factories here. Those factories, the Detroit automakers…