Diana Furchtgott-Roth, an economist with the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation who studies climate and energy issues, recently appeared on a Fox News broadcast alongside Stuart Varney to discuss the E.V. market, and its negative impact on car manufacturers; “going green, losing green” was the tagline that flashed across the screen before the segment. (Furchtgott-Roth also served in President Trump’s administration, and is a professor at George Washington University.)
The federal government recently finalized regulations for its “zero-emissions vehicle” mandate. The mandate requires sellers of light vehicles (passenger cars and light trucks) to sell a rising minimum of zero-emissions vehicles — basically, electric vehicles or EVs — every year, culminating with 100 per cent EVs in 2035, just 11 years from now. Reasonable forecasts of production and sales make clear that Ottawa’s timeline is unrealistic.
There cannot be optimism for an idea doomed to fail from the start.
The near-term challenges of mass electric vehicle (EV) adoption inevitably begin with price, but a recent cold snap has re-emphasized battery and charging snags. In addition, as prices for new EVs trend down, new buyers also have to consider potentially lower resale values.
Tom Narayan, lead equity analyst covering global autos at RBC Capital Markets, told BNN Bloomberg on Jan. 31 that the EV market is going through a bit of a slowdown.
Electric cars cannot be advertised as completely “zero emission” because of the carbon dioxide that is generated when they are made and charged, the advertising watchdog has declared.
In a ruling that will change how electric vehicles (EVs) are promoted, the Advertising Standards Authority has banned carmakers from referring to them as zero emission unless they make clear this is only while driving.
The decision emerged as the regulator criticised BMW for describing its range of EVs as “zero emission cars” in Google searches.
Some of the wealthiest liberal enclaves in the country are being classified by the Biden administration as “low-income” in order to qualify for an electric vehicle (EV) charger subsidy program contained within the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Daily Caller reports.
Toyota said Tuesday the company will see an annual profit of $30 billion at the end of the fiscal year in March, and it’s probably down to one big decision.
The Japanese car giant suggested that its decision to avoid going fully electric within its fleet of vehicles, and instead emphasize hybrid machines, is likely why it’ll end the fiscal year on such a high, according to Axios. Shares in Toyota rose nearly 50% in the last 12 months, while electric vehicle manufacturers struggle to deal with the fact that no one wants their stupid cars.
… Ford was forced to cut the price of the electric version of its iconic F-150 pickup truck by around $10,000 because no one wanted to buy them. Models were piling up at dealerships, despite the lower-cost, because common sense consumers know that electric vehicles (a) don’t really help the planet as they are still fueled by electricity from traditional power plants, and (b) are often junked over the most minor of damages.
Rowan Atkinson has been blamed for poor sales of electric cars in a report by the House of Lords.
Atkinson, known for Mr Bean and the Blackadder series, found himself the centre of a real-life drama on Tuesday.
The Lords’ environment and climate change committee was told that the star, 69, was partly at fault for “damaging” public perceptions of electric vehicles (EVs).
He spoke honestly that the public was being mislead about electric cars.
When the electric vans startup Arrival announced that it was seeking to focus its business on the US market, it seemed like a good move. Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act was offering massive subsidies for the green industries of tomorrow; the market would surely surge, and Arrival’s fortunes with it.
They did not. The “British Tesla” as it was once known, which was valued at over £10 billion on the Nasdaq at one point, has seen its UK arm enter administration. It follows that other darling of green industrial policy, Britishvolt, which collapsed last year (it was later bought by Recharge Industries).
Arrival UK, an electric van start-up, has fallen into administration less than three years after a $13 billion float, in a fresh blow to Britain’s green energy ambitions.
EY has been appointed to explore options for the break-up and sale of the group’s operations. Arrival, based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, has two factories in the county. Its parent company, listed in America, employs about 400 people worldwide.
The problem with government mandates aimed at manipulating free markets is they are typically based in political expediency, not commercial reality.
As more potholes appear on the road to electric-vehicle nirvana, edicts by lawmakers in Canada and states such as California and New York to require all new-car sales be EVs by 2035 are proving the point: Politically motivated virtue signals rarely withstand pressure testing from real-world market forces.
Last Saturday I took my boys to the local museum of natural science, and although we live close enough to walk, it was pouring rain, so we drove. Without thinking I parked, but my oldest pointed out that the car next to us looked like an E.V. and suggested I find another spot, so I did—I may or may not have instilled in my kids a healthy and rational skepticism of the E.V. movement, and a concern that these cars are exceptional fire hazards (but definitely did).
France’s President Macron had a plan to make millions of electric vehicles a year. Chancellor Scholz planned to put 15 million on Germany’s roads by 2030. President Biden trumped the lot with a $174bn (£138bn) plan to make the US the world leader. Even Boris Johnson – remember him – had a £1bn plan to beef up our charging network.
Rewind only a couple of years, and almost every president or prime minister was making electric vehicles the cornerstone of an industrial strategy. And yet, this week we have learned that Renault is abandoning plans to separately list its electric vehicle (EV) and software business, while Volvo is winding down its Polestar electric sports car subsidiary.
When it comes to the green transition, let no one say the Trudeau government is unwilling to put other people’s money where its mouth is. Why, in just one sector, a sector of a sector really – making batteries for electric vehicles – the government has put $44-billion at risk: one of the “big bets” on Canada’s industrial future of which it likes to boast.
STOCKHOLM—Volvo Car said it won’t provide further funding to Polestar, the electric-car maker it created with Volvo’s Chinese owner Geely—the latest EV retrenchment by the global auto industry.
The auto industry’s pivot to electric vehicles has been rocked by setbacks this year, just as a flood of new battery-powered models is hitting showrooms.
Earlier this week, French automaker Renault said it has decided to cancel the initial public offering of its electric-car unit Ampere. Ford, meanwhile, has slashed production of its electric F-150 Lightning, a pickup truck that has generated major buzz since its launch. Rental-car firm Hertz has said it was dumping about one-third of its EV rental car fleet, replacing the cars with gas-engine vehicles.
h/t Mauser
It’s been a rough few months for electric vehicle fans. During the January cold snap, social media sites were filled with sarcasm and pictures of Teslas stranded by freezing temperatures. Lots of “dead robots out there,” one wag put it.
In mid-January, the rental car company Hertz, previously an eager early adopter of fleet electrification, announced a big sell-off of EVs that it had only recently purchased, mainly because they proved far more expensive to maintain than advertised. The same week, Ford slashed EV production, having earlier pulled back on planned battery factories. Both Ford and GM now face higher labor costs, having negotiated epic United Auto Workers pay hikes that now include previously excluded battery factories. Adding to the woes, unsold EVs are piling up on dealer lots, spurring aggressive discounting. The big sales benefit buyers but deepen the already-massive losses of manufacturers.
