There’s been a lot of negative news around EV’s lately. Hertz slowing down their Tesla purchase, Ford postponing its investment, GM just continuing to make the absolute dumbest decisions with their EV’s, Toyota well being Toyota. Maybe I am over reacting but it feels like we are reaching some critical mass here and it feels bleek.
The most EVized major markets in the world, China and California, are about 25% EV. That’s great! But that means that in quite literally the best case right now, 3/4 cars sold are ICE in some form. Now, hybrids and PHEVs are better, and make up a large chunk of that rather than it just being pure ICE, but still
This is a marathon, not a spring. Especially in the US where the pickup is king
What’s going on is that “FUD” is becoming this subreddit’s favorite phrase without any regard for the reality of the situation.
So it’s our fault for pointing out that Anti-EV propaganda is ramping up?
I think the price reductions of Teslas have a lot to do with this. When their prices go down, other OEMs will want to follow suit to stay competitive. That means lower profit margins for both new and used EVs, and massive depreciation for those trying to sell their current EVs.
Now that the honeymoon phase of owning an EV is over, I regret making the purchase. I can’t believe I paid almost 50k for a car that’s only worth 30-35k now with only 7,000 miles on it. I find public charging to be a pain and the range anxiety is real.
Most of what you just listed is just news. Did Hertz not state pulling back on EV plans? Has GM not announced plans to slow EV scaling? Did LG not warn of slowing EV demand?
If after all this you still have to ask “what is going on?”, then I don’t know what to tell you.
Reality is finally trickling into this echo chamber
Some OEMs are winning some are losing, as is always the case. And the current interest rate environment and global slowdown is generally making things tighter.
Hyundai Motor Group just announced record profits and continuation of their EV plans. Volvo is on track with their EV transition plans including profitability. Tesla still is one of the most if not the most outright profitable OEMs worldwide. BMW’s EV sales growth is leaps and bounds more than their overall company growth, which seems to be more than fine. And BYD and other EV-focused/exclusive Chinese OEMs seem to be growing just fine as well (although reliable news sources on them in the West is scarce).
Meanwhile, Ford and GM are dealing with strikes in the US and their dealers continuing to markup their EVs to make them plain not competitive for the median consumer vs ICE analogues, and they can’t afford to compete on price with Tesla. Outside the US, they have limited production and models for what usually sells in Europe and China - not too many F150s, Hummers, Silverados, etc there - and their non truck/giant SUV models are middling compared to the competition. Stellantis seems to be scrambling to generate an EV plan while catching up to their home market’s EV mandates - they just bought a big stake in a Chinese OEM to import their EV tech - and seem to be struggling with a lot of the same issues as GM/Ford. Renault-Nissan pissed away their lead with the Leaf and are also importing platforms from China to try to catch up.
BEV sales are still growing worldwide and are the only consistent growth area in the overall auto market. Some companies have a more mature and well-thought-out strategy for the EV transition than others and/or a lack of baggage from their ICE footprint or labor force to deal with. All industries that go through a technological shakeup deal with a messy period like this. It’s not going to be predictable or easy for all.
Yep, funny you don’t see any of the companies selling good EVs complaining or pulling back. It’s all the companies selling overpriced mediocre ones pulling back.
Blame Ford’s PR folks.
Ev costs too much to manufacture. Losing money or barely making any and not worth the retooling and retrofit. Or building a whole new factory. If EVs are cheap, it will cannibalize ice production. You see it’s not sustainable either way. Plus with high interest rates, it will be a hard sell. Gas savings is minimal. People want range and convenience. They are uneducated on ev usage as well. Thinking it takes days to charge.
https://insideevs.com/news/693441/us-genesis-bev-sales-2023q3/
https://www.canalys.com/newsroom/global-ev-sales-h1-2023
Notice that when you find a good news piece, it’s usually based on sales numbers. The negative pieces seem to be based on anything but. As long as EV sales keep ramping up-and-up, I’m not going to worry too much.
Sales seem to point to there not being a slowdown in adoption rate, but rather an increase in total and proportional amounts from previous years. There are individual automakers that seemed to have put out offerings at prices and specs that are probably not doing as well as they hoped, but the overall US EV market seems to be growing.
Oil companies always win. Remember that! They even go to war for the oil
It’s primarily high interest rates forcing buyers to the sidelines, which is finally affecting automakers plans, which is making the news. There’s other factors too, but that’s the big one.
Big oil hates EV’s.
So does big auto.
They make too much money on ice vehicles and don’t want to give them up.
Meanwhile Elon has gone full Howard Hughes nuts with a load of right wing hate added on, and has pissed of his user base.
First, most that want an EV have already bought theirs.
Also, some hate charging at charging spots because most are more expensive than charging at home. So, some ONLY charge at home. When those who put out the charge stations don’t make money (because some charge only at home), they slow down or stop creating new charge points. And everyone knows the charging system infrastructure isn’t quite there yet.
I’m still hesitant to buy a full EV because of this and lack of range. I currently drive a plug-in hybrid (and love it) and do almost all charging at home.
The time is coming soon where we will get a 1000 mile battery. And if charging stations can somehow actually make money (and therefore creating more charging stations), I believe sales will take off again.
Until then, I’m still waiting for a company to release a 150-mile range plugin hybrid. Don’t know if it will ever happen.