Bye, bye EV's?

[XCR1250]

The electric car ‘revolution’ is a disaster before it’s begun

 

 

Ben Marlow

Sat, July 1, 2023 

 

 

 

Volkswagen has taken the extraordinary decision of halting electric vehicle production at one of its biggest plants - David Hecker/AFP

The electric car revolution is stalling, of that there can no longer be any doubt. It has left the big global carmakers floundering, uncertain of how to proceed in a race they reluctantly entered in the first place.

Electrification was initially met with fierce resistance. But once politicians held a gun to the heads of company bosses with a series of cliff-edge deadlines for phasing out the combustion engine, carmakers had little choice but to go all-in.

Century-old business models were declared dead and ambitious plans hurriedly drawn up to electrify entire portfolios from small city run-arounds to family saloons and SUVs, at astronomical cost. Even Ferrari has embraced the movement – much to the consternation of petrolheads everywhere.

But with electrification barely off the starting grid, one by one the big carmakers are already pulling back as demand badly falters.

Volkswagen is so concerned about flagging sales that it has taken the extraordinary decision of halting electric vehicle production at one of its biggest plants. Assembly lines for electric models will be paused for six weeks at the Emden factory in northwest Germany and 300 of its 1,500 staff laid off after sales fell 30pc short of forecasts.

This means production of the new VW ID.7 electric model, which had been due to commence in July will be pushed back until the end of the year. The ID.4 electric SUV and the upcoming ID.7 electric sedan will also be delayed.

“We are experiencing strong customer reluctance in the electric vehicle sector,” plant boss Manfred Wulff said.

That is remarkably plain language from the largest car manufacturer on the planet, and a company that recently announced plans to invest €120bn (£103bn) over the next five years in “electrification and digitalisation”.

It comes months after Ford poured cold water on the shift to electric with thousands of job losses in Europe. Electric vehicle production is unable to support anything like the same number of jobs that petrol and diesel models are able to sustain, it said. Boss Jim Farley estimates that 40pc fewer staff will be needed to develop battery versions.

A generation of pure electric vehicle makers has hardly fared any better. On Tuesday, Lordstown Motors, the US electric truck specialist that Donald Trump once heralded as the saviour of a depressed Ohio town, filed for bankruptcy protection.

Even Elon Musk has been forced to repeatedly cut the price of Teslas in a desperate effort to prop up demand and protect market share.

 

Electric cars losing value

But it’s the setback at VW that stands out, raising serious questions about whether politicians are making the catastrophic mistake of forcing electric cars on a public that doesn’t want them. Indeed, the decision to impose strict deadlines for the phase out of petrol cars could turn out to be one of the most ruinous policy decisions of our lifetimes.

Think about it for a second: an entire industry not only forced to abandon a product that the vast majority of people still want and use, but also bullied into channelling all its resources into making something on a colossal level that there simply isn’t the market for – at least not within the horrendously short timeframe that is being imposed on car manufacturers.

It’s industrial self-sabotage and a commercial, economic and social catastrophe in the making. But what’s worse is that the damage risks being far greater in the UK than anywhere else in the Western world thanks to the Government’s myopic obsession with arbitrary net zero targets.

While the rest of the industrial world seems to have largely settled on a 2035 deadline for petrol and diesel phase out, ministers, for reasons destined to remain a mystery, have decided Britain needs to hit this milestone five years earlier than everyone else.

It makes no sense at all, and yet the ramifications threaten to be huge. By diverting capital into something that lots of people essentially don’t want, it risks inflicting massive losses on an already fragile UK car industry.

It is pure fantasy to imagine that Britain – with a dearth of battery factories (consultants Alix Partners estimates as much as a third of Britain’s battery requirements will need to be imported), a paucity of chargers and dramatically higher energy costs – will be in any position to go fully electric in the next seven years. And the Government simply isn’t capable of solving any of these challenges in time, if at all.

The UK risks becoming the unfortunate guinea pig in a costly and dangerous experiment that persuades the rest of the world to push their own deadlines out even further, turning this country into an example of how not to become a nation of electric car owners.

Perhaps, instead of everyone rushing out to buy an electric car as the end of the decade nears, millions of people will simply hand over the keys to their obsolete petrol bangers, and choose to walk everywhere instead.

It would have the double benefit of being a spectacular protest move, at the same time as being entirely in keeping with net zero – great for the environment but terrible for the economy.

[Rod]

wouldn’t need to be legislated if they were actually better, or even as good. 

[Snake]

Those things depreciate faster than my X5, which is hilarious....

[toslow]

19 minutes ago, Snake said:

Those things depreciate faster than my X5, which is hilarious....

only on trade in, go and try to buy a used one, fucken dealerships are like pirates 

[Rod]

39 minutes ago, Snake said:

Those things depreciate faster than my X5, which is hilarious....

like buying a computer in the 90’s. By the time you get it home, it’s severely outdated 

[awful knawful]

Electric cars and bud lite go hand in hand.

Fags

[spin_dry]

It's a fucking disaster. If the domestic maker survive it'll be a miracle. And if they go under Tesla will lose a source of parts as auto subs start shutting their doors. not good. 

[BadaBing444]

6 hours ago, spin_dry said:

It's a fucking disaster. If the domestic maker survive it'll be a miracle. And if they go under Tesla will lose a source of parts as auto subs start shutting their doors. not good. 

They aren’t going to go under.  I guarantee GM and Ford already have an agreement with our Government to be bailed out when this fails.

[ArcticCrusher]

Who's getting one.

 

[Mainecat]

Losing value? Sure you fuckin dumbasses. The more EV manufacturers there are and the quantity of EVs on the road equates to lower prices.

 

[XCR1250]

Americans strongly oppose Biden's EV goals: poll

 

 

 

Americans strongly oppose Biden's EV goals: poll

Thomas Catenacci

 

 

 

A large majority of Americans are opposed to President Biden's and Democrats' plans nationwide to phase out traditional gas-powered vehicles by 2035, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll.

According to the survey, 59% of Americans oppose phasing out gas cars and trucks by 2035, and just 21% would feel excited if the U.S. were to move forward with such a policy. Over the last two years, Americans have grown in their opposition to phasing out gas vehicles, with 51% opposing in April 2021, 8% less than the share who are now against.

"Over this period of time, support for phasing out gasoline cars and trucks has ticked down among both Democrats and Republicans," the Pew Research Center report stated.

In addition, the poll results showed that Republicans oppose phasing out gas cars by 2035 by a margin of 84% to 16% while Democrats favor it by a margin of 64% to 35%.

BIDEN'S AMBITIOUS EV PLANS COULD MAKE US MORE DEPENDENT ON CHINESE SUPPLY CHAINS, EXPERTS WARN

 

The Biden administration introduced restrictive tailpipe standards to push electric vehicle proliferation. Biden previously set a goal of ensuring that 50% of new car purchases are electric by 2030.

It also showed that 73% of Republicans would be upset about the policy, while just 20% of Democrats would feel the same way. By comparison, 7% of Republicans and 37% of Democrats would feel excited about a phase-down.

 

And Americans are broadly skeptical that the U.S. would be capable of building out the necessary infrastructure necessary to support consumers rapidly switching to electric vehicles. Just 17% of U.S. adults are extremely or very confident that it is possible, 30% are somewhat confident, and 53% are not confident.

The survey results come as the Biden administration and various Democratic-led states continue to push forward with regulations pushing electric vehicle adoption and, in some cases, banning the future sale of gas cars.

CALIFORNIA'S GRID FACES COLLAPSE AS LEADERS PUSH RENEWABLES, ELECTRIC VEHICLES, EXPERTS SAY

"Cars and truck manufacturers have made clear that the future of transportation is electric. The market is moving," the White House said in April. "As a car enthusiast and self-proclaimed car guy, President Biden is seizing the moment."

 

President Joe Biden makes his entrance on Nov. 17, 2021, at General Motors' Factory ZERO electric vehicle assembly plant in Detroit, Michigan.

The statement came after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the most aggressive federal tailpipe emissions ever crafted.

If finalized and implemented, a staggering 67% of new sedan, crossover, SUV and light truck purchases could be electric by 2032, the White House projected. In addition, up to 50% of bus and garbage truck, 35% of short-haul freight tractor and 25% of long-haul freight tractor purchases could be electric by then.

"The Biden administration is trying to bend every federal rule they can find to force people into buying EVs," Myron Ebell, the director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Center for Energy and Environment, said at the time. "There is still a market that allows drivers to buy the vehicles of their choice, but government coercion is rapidly limiting those choices."

MORE THAN 150 REPUBLICANS UNITE TO CONDEMN BIDEN'S 'ILL-CONSIDERED' ELECTRIC VEHICLE PUSH

In March 2022, the EPA reinstated California’s authority under the Clean Air Act to implement its own emission standards and electric vehicle sales mandates, and allowed other states to adopt California's rules. The move came after the Trump administration revoked the state's authority to pursue its own standards inconsistent with federal rules.

Then, in August, the California Air Resources Board, a leading state environmental agency, approved regulations mandating that all car purchases in the state — which leads the country in annual car sales — are to be zero-emissions by 2035.

Overall, 17 states have laws in place that tether their vehicle emissions standards to those set in California, meaning the electric vehicle mandate would impact Americans nationwide. It is estimated that the states adopting California's 2035 rule represent more than 40% of total U.S. car purchases.

Gas-powered cars represented 93% of all new car sales in 2022, according to a recent report from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. And EVs remain far more expensive and less efficient than alternatives.

Overall, the average cost of an EV was $64,338, while the average cost of a compact gas-powered car was $26,101 as of last year, according to Kelley Blue Book. In addition, the U.S. Department of Energy reported that the average range of model year 2021 gasoline vehicles was 403 miles, compared to the median 234-mile range of model year 2021 EVs.

[awful knawful]

3 hours ago, Mainecat said:

Losing value? Sure you fuckin dumbasses. The more EV manufacturers there are and the quantity of EVs on the road equates to lower prices.

 

Queer

[Rod]

Ford lightning ended up being a huge dud 

[BOHICA]

Lol.  Easily beat Wall Street expectations.

 

Tesla (TSLA) released its second quarter production and delivery numbers on Sunday, easily beating expectations as the effects of the electric-vehicle maker’s price cuts, combined with federal EV tax credits, are boosting sales.

For the quarter, Tesla reported global production of 479,700 units with deliveries of 466,140. The delivery figure easily topped Wall Street consensus estimates of 448,599 units, as well as the prior quarter’s total of 422,875. Both production and delivery totals for the second quarter were all-time records for Tesla.

The numbers beat analysts' expectations and indicate that deliveries rose 83% year-over-year for Tesla after Elon Musk's auto business added manufacturing capacity, and ramped up production at is vehicle assembly plant in Austin, Texas.
 

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/07/02/tesla-tsla-q2-2023-vehicle-delivery-and-production-numbers.html

[Snake]

So while you wait 5 hours to 'gas up'.. you can smile your stock went up...

"More money than brains" comes to mind....

[Steve753]

7 minutes ago, Snake said:

So while you wait 5 hours to 'gas up'.. you can smile your stock went up...

"More money than brains" comes to mind....

Or you can charge at home so you don't have to wait. 

Doesn't work so well if you live in an apartment or you're out of town though.

Teslas are not all that expensive so not sure where you're more money than brains comment is implied.

[Snake]

7 minutes ago, Steve753 said:

Or you can charge at home so you don't have to wait. 

Doesn't work so well if you live in an apartment or you're out of town though.

Teslas are not all that expensive so not sure where you're more money than brains comment is implied.

I'm not going to turn around in Boston, go home, and charge up to make it to Baltimore.... doesn't work that way.

If you read the post prior to mine, you would un-der-stand (comprehend) what it was in reference to....

[Steve753]

2 minutes ago, Snake said:

I'm not going to turn around in Boston, go home, and charge up to make it to Baltimore.... doesn't work that way.

If you read the post prior to mine, you would un-der-stand (comprehend) what it was in reference to....

That's why I said if you're out of town it doesn't work so well.

You should worry about your own comprehension.

[Snake]

13 minutes ago, Steve753 said:

That's why I said if you're out of town it doesn't work so well.

You should worry about your own comprehension.

Do you think the line of Teslas are just around the corner from home? It was you who brought irrelevance to the post.....

You went off topic from what the thread was doing, so maby you should 'worry' about 'worrying'..... yes?

[Steve753]

5 minutes ago, Snake said:

Do you think the line of Teslas are just around the corner from home? It was you who brought irrelevance to the post.....

You went off topic from what the thread was doing, so maby you should 'worry' about 'worrying'..... yes?

They could possibly be if they live in an apartment or condo. You don't know that neither do I. Just stating why they could be waiting. You on the otherhand can't think period.

 

[Matt]

EVs are excellent cars for people who never drive more than 100 miles from home.  I think in the 5 years we've owned my wife's SUV, it's been farther than 100 miles from home once.  My truck is the big mile vehicle.  Her car is for bombing around town.

Strongly considering a Tesla to replace her ICE SUV.

[BOHICA]

11 minutes ago, Matt said:

EVs are excellent cars for people who never drive more than 100 miles from home.  I think in the 5 years we've owned my wife's SUV, it's been farther than 100 miles from home once.  My truck is the big mile vehicle.  Her car is for bombing around town.

Strongly considering a Tesla to replace her ICE SUV.

I use my EV pretty much excusively for 400 miles plus from home.  It’s an excellent long toad trip vehicle from my personal experience.

[toslow]

400 miles, on one charge you say GTFO🫵

[BOHICA]

11 minutes ago, toslow said:

400 miles, on one charge you say GTFO🫵

I never said that you would not need to stop and charge.  Just an excellent road trip vehicle.  44,000 miles in 17 months with 90% of that mileage on road trips

Edited July 3, 2023 by BOHICA

[Matt]

50 minutes ago, BOHICA said:

I never said that you would not need to stop and charge.  Just an excellent road trip vehicle.  44,000 miles in 17 months with 90% of that mileage on road trips

I have zero interest in sitting with my thumb up my ass for 45 mins when I could be rolling. That lost time would infuriate me.