Posted on 05/06/2022 10:18:16 AM PDT by fireman15
Major U.S. automaker Ford blamed its sizable investment in electric vehicle (EV) company Rivian for its dramatic revenue decline in the first quarter of 2022.
Ford reported revenue of $34.5 billion between January and March, a 5% decline relative to the same period in 2021, and a net loss of $3.1 billion, according to the company’s earnings report released Wednesday. The Detroit automaker said its large investment in Rivian accounted for $5.4 billion in losses during the first quarter.
“A net loss of $3.1 billion was primarily attributable to a mark-to-market loss of $5.4 billion on the company’s investment in Rivian,” Ford said in the earnings report.
Ford maintains a roughly 12% stake in Rivian, CNBC reported in November.
Rivian has posted massive profit losses of its own and its share price has plummeted nearly 70% over the last six months. The value of Ford’s roughly 102 million Rivian shares has fallen from about $17.5 billion to $3.2 billion since November.
In the final three months of 2021, Rivian reported a net loss of $2.5 billion.
Automakers have increasingly turned their attention toward manufacturing electric vehicles as governments push aggressive green energy plans. President Joe Biden has promised to craft policies to ensure 50% of new vehicle sales in the U.S. are emissions-free by 2030 and every addition to the federal government’s 600,000-vehicle fleet is electric by 2035.
However, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe recently suggested that the supply chain for EV batteries is still far behind where it needs to be to achieve many of the goals pushed by Western governments, the WSJ reported.
“Put very simply, all the world’s cell production combined represents well under 10% of what we will need in 10 years,” Scaringe said last week. “Meaning, 90% to 95% of the supply chain does not exist.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thestarnewsnetwork.com ...
The electrical infrastructure, the resources to produce the batteries, and whole list of other issues do not exist and are not likely to exist any time soon.
Now imagine if batteries are 1/3 the price, or 2x or more the range. Game over.
I have a science based experiment that you can do yourself at home to demonstrate the problem with your line of thought... Wish in one hand and sh@t in the other... see which hand gets filled the quickest.
Is that the sound of the Democrats bailing them out ?
Electric is here to stay. Get used to it.
As a small part of transportation not 100% of it
“Electric is here to stay. Get used to it.”
No, global warming is a hoax. I won’t be herded by a government hoax.
No, global warming is a hoax.
That’s why they keep changing the the name of their Hoax ,LOL
Why would I *possibly* want an EV today?
Good, the market will decide.
People don’t want electric, they want gas powered cars.
I know...they broadened it to “climate change” to cover everything. But I make the scum stick with their original lie.
No, the big three sell all the pickups they can produce.
Woke company: “If investing disproportionately in non-viable green technologies is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.”
Marketplace: “It’s wrong.”
Woke company: “Whoops sorry, but our heart was in right place?”
Hi.
I hope you are doing well.
Between you and me, once a Tesla can be charged in ten minutes and have a range (in any climate) of 500 miles, I would buy one.
The “Mustang” no so much.
5.56mm
I have nothing against the concept of electric cars. I like them, in the same way and for the same reasons jet engines supplanted reciprocating engines in aviation. Fewer parts to fail, better reliability, more power. That is all good.
What I have a major issue with in 2022 is being forced to buy an electric car. Especially when the range is going to be about 200-300 miles MAXIMUM unless you pay out the nose to get one that can go 400 miles.
I want to drive to Florida. Or Nebraska. Or California. Or wherever I want, without having to have a stopover for four hours or find a charging station.
Sure. Batteries will get better, last longer, charge quicker, be cheaper, all those things. Not even mentioning the power grid, availability of charging stations or even the ability to pump enough electric power into the grid. Liberals and starry eyed people thing electricity comes from that funny looking receptacle on the wall. Often the same kind of people who thinks a steak is born in a Styrofoam tray. That is why we can joke about Leftists who drive coal or nuclear powered cars.
So, sure. Someday.
If someone wants to buy an electric car as a toy, a fun performance thing, a short commuter car, fine.
But it is stupidity and insanity of the highest order to suggest the internal combustion engine is obsolete and we should go all in on electric cars right now.
Actually that’s true. It has a 100 kWh battery. If it can pump out say 50 Amps continuous, then yeah, it’ll run most all of a 3 BR house. If only 30 Amps, then all the 110V circuits.
My wife purchased a brand-new diesel Ford Escort in 1984. It took 4 weeks for delivery from Detroit. It had a tiny Mazda diesel engine in it. On its first long trip it cost her $22 to drive it from Washington to Michigan and back. The gear ratio on the transmission was so low that she could start it out in 3rd gear.
She used it for commuting while working as an agency nurse all over the Puget Sound region. She had a Gremlin before than which was a small car as well but used three times as much fuel. The only problem with the diesel Ford Escort is that even the dealership didn’t know how to work on the little engine... at all.
Later we bought a used 82 Olds Cutlass that had the GM 350 diesel conversion engine. The engine had a bad reputation from problems that plagued it in the first couple years of production.
Although the block looked similar to a Chevy 350, used many of the same accessories and could be bolted on the same engine mounts.... the block was a complete redesign and after the initial problems were worked out it was a very good engine. Ours went 300,000 miles with one new injector pump before we sold the car. The car averaged over 30mpg in our mix of city and highway driving.
The little Escort was an amazing little thing however.
I would love to own a Tesla. If I had the money. And if I knew there would be available ten-minute charging stations available at all points on my route.
I am not anti-EV in any way. Just anti-EV right NOW is all.
I did so in the hopes that the price on the same 2022 model would come down if inventory increased. As it stands right now, the 2022 model was going to cost me $140 per month more than the current lease.
A 1984 Ford Escort (I purchased out of sheer desperation because I had no money) put me in the position to make me spit for the next 30 years every single time I heard or saw “Ford”.
I eventually considered buying another Ford, but it sure took me a long time.
It happens all the time as part of a risk/reward analysis. It's a way for a company to hedge against competition (i.e. if your competitor might one day steal some of your business anyway might as well get some of that lost profit back by being a part owner). This is especially the case for a new venture that the older company isn't sure will work well (don't want to risk tarnishing an established brand like the mega selling F-150 truck if pickup truck owners decide to hate EV trucks like they're girly-man trucks). But Ford doesn't want to be left out of a new market if the EV truck thing becomes more popular. By having the EV truck as another brand name, Ford was hoping to get some reward with little risk.
Think about how much Coca-Cola was losing the soda wars as Generation X was leaving Coca-Cola and going to Pepsi. To change that Coke tried New Coke, failed miserably, and for a while tarnished their brand (even prior loyal Coke drinkers took a while to go back to drinking Coca-Cola Classic after Coke had gone all in on marketing New Coke and it failed). But Coke still had the problem of a future generation not liking them as much as Generation X. So Coke bought into Dr. Pepper -- if Dr. Pepper became popular among Gen X (which it did) Coke would enjoy some of that profit even if they still hated some of those soda drinkers going away from Coke, which they seemed to be doing anyway but to Pepsi which would leave Coke getting none of that money. But if Dr. Pepper hadn't gained in popularity and had fizziled out, it wouldn't have tarnished the Coke brand name further (less risk than trying a new dark cola product under the Coke brand name).
I’ve got a good idea, why don’t we mandate that all vehicles come with a cure for cancer?
I bought a Ford Fusion awhile back, and I got the hybrid version. It's a great car, loaded with options that were standard for the hybrid trim, and drives easiloy and seats five adults comfortably.
However, the only sedan Ford sells now is the Mustang, and that's really a sports car. So they have no market for a four-door family car anymore.
-PJ
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