Posted on 09/24/2024 6:17:44 AM PDT by Red Badger
Last week, the House approved a resolution to block the Biden administration’s emissions rule that would require more than half of the automobiles sold in the new-car market to be electric by 2032. The 215 representatives who voted for the bill, including eight Democrats, are far more in tune with most of the country than the White House. The “deplorables” and “bitter” clingers of the industrialized world are rejecting electric vehicles.
Nationwide, the inventory of unsold EVs had grown by nearly 350% over the first half of 2024, creating “a 92-day supply — roughly three months’ worth of EVs, and nearly twice the industry average,” says Axios, which is 54 days for gasoline-powered vehicles.
Ford, which lost nearly $73,000 on each EV it sold in the second quarter of 2023, continues to yield to reality, now ditching its plans to build a large electric SUV. This “course change,” says Just the News, “comes amid lower-than-expected demand for electric vehicles.”
The company has also “pushed back to 2027” plans for “another electric vehicle project for a pickup truck.”
“Based on where the market is and where the customer is, we will pivot and adjust and make those tough decisions,” said John Lawler, Ford’s chief financial officer.
And here’s the market’s message:
“Of the U.S. consumers planning on purchasing a new vehicle in the next 24 months, only 34% intend to purchase an EV, down 14% from 48% in the 2023,” says Ernst & Young’s Mobility Consumer Index, “a global survey of almost 20,000 consumers from 28 countries.”
The story is much the same in Britain. EVs “are losing value at an ‘unsustainable’ rate as a slowdown in consumer demand sends used car prices tumbling,” the Telegraph reported last week. Meanwhile in France, “the EU’s second largest market for battery electric vehicles behind Germany,” deliveries have fallen by a third.
Germans are likewise losing interest, as the country has “suffered a ‘spectacular’ drop in electric car sales as the European Union faces growing calls to delay its net zero vehicle targets,” the Telegraph said in a separate story.
National Public Radio, which speaks to and for the political left, argues that “EVs are better for the environment than gas cars,” and laments that more Americans have doubts about electric vehicles’ eco-integrity. EVs, says NPR, “are caught up in the culture wars.”
There might be some truth there. Many Americans are fed up with elected and unelected officials forcing their preferences on them. It’s a culture of independence at war with a culture of coercion.
We also venture to say that a significant number in this country disfavor EVs because they don’t want to be seen as virtue signalers putting their green cred on display. They see the shallow exhibitions of eco-activism every day and they don’t want to be lumped into that crowd.
There are other reasons, of course: EVs’ steep sticker prices, their short ranges and extended charging times (when a working charger can be found), the high costs of insuring and repairing them, their drain on the grid, and their bogus reputation (they’re not zero-emission vehicles). There should no astonishment that, as documented by Wired, EVs are losing as much as half of their value in a year, with “some electric car brands … hemorrhaging value, with the worst losing as much as $600 a day.”
It’s not within the government’s limited range of authority to tell Americans what they can and cannot drive based on cars’ various energy sources. Yet policymakers issue mandates with no regard for the short leashes that should hold them back. Maybe consumer backlash, followed inevitably by voter backlash, will encourage them to rethink their agenda.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
“losing as much as half of their value in a year”
Maybe the batteries should be a leased product.
The risk of defective batteries would be shifted away from the EV owner and the EV would then hold value well.
The Tesla E-truck has only recently been delivered to consumers.
It sell new for $110K
I just last week saw one advertised at a local used car lot for $70K
I can’t imagine that I would wait years to buy a truck, finally get the truck, drive it a few months, and then be so unhappy with the truck to sell it at a $30K loss.
U.S., Canada and Mexico vehicle production 2019-2023
Martin Placek, May 6, 2024
The auto industries in Canada, the United States, and Mexico produced around 16.2 million motor vehicles in 2023. That year, Mexico accounted for around one-fourth of the North American production volume. In 2013, Mexico edged past Canada to become North America’s second largest vehicle producer.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/204240/us-and-canada-and-mexico-vehicle-production/
You probably know this but some of our readers may not... There is not one 220v line coming off the pole. It is 2 110v lines.
I see some driving around here, but I don’t know if it’s the same one I see over and over again, since they all look exactly alike..............
Yes, I know..............
The chargers need to be placed adjacent to where people ordinarily spend time - restaurants, motels, grocery stores, libraries, apartment buildings and workplaces.
The amount of time and effort used for EV charging must be similar to that of ICE vehicles.
To install a fast charger in your home (not recommended unless you have a separate garage) they will probably have to install a dedicated transformer just for your car..............
Another example of how planned economies fail.
Governments can't anticipate what consumers will want or buy.
The government tells producers what the public needs, forces producers to produce a product.
Then when the product is presented to the public, the public fails to buy the product and the producer is on hook for the losses.
Sure the producer can write off the loss, but that only recoups them maybe 30% of the loss.
I am going to drive my 2020 Toyota till I die if I can. No way will I buy an electric vehical.
As an economist, it's kinda fun to watch the market at work telling producers "we don't want these things". Still, the gov't is trying to create incentives to counter the market. Consider the government's $7.5 billion bill, passed in 2021, to build 182,000 charging stations.
A govt-sponsored charging is coming to your area...you just may have to wait a while. So far, with typical gov't efficiency, they have built 8 charging stations in the last 3 years.
I am roadtripping through Washington right now. I passed 4 tesla in Steven’s Pass all with dead batteries waiting for a tow truck.
There be business opportunities:
18 wheeler flatbed with multiple charging diesel generators on it................
Are Motorola or Tyco slot cars better? Every few years I run into my childhood friend Joey in the neighborhood and we still debate the question.
(Joey has been a local cop for decades,
about ready to retire if not already done so.)
So what say ye, folks?
Motorola or Tyco? :-) LOL.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FRace-Track-Sets-Large-Electric%2Fdp%2FB0BQYXZJWT&psig=AOvVaw3WDLMqWDFY59yN2ks6wRFN&ust=1727273826024000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBEQjRxqFwoTCNiGqtbi24gDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAP
The bums and thieves are going to love stealing g all the copper from chargers. Especially people who will have to run extension cords to the street because they have no garage. And every hone insurance company will not cover damage from ev cars blowing up.
Having spent 37 years in the electric power business I think about electricity maybe more than most people.
The issue with the batteries in these cars is, with today's technology, are insurmountable (in my opinion).
The issue with range and charging times is what I am thinking about today.
To make range comparable with gasoline cars requires a break through in battery tech. There are some things that are promising being worked on.
But charging times another matter.
To get charging times down to something comparable to fueling up a gasoline car would require very high currents and a charging cable about as thick as your arm. Most people would have a hard time hooking up their car to the charger.
I am thinking you would need a 480 Volt power line or better to supply the necessary amperage to charge your car.
Then the car would probably need an off board liquid cooling system hooked up to the car during charging to carry away the heat generated during the charge.
I really don't see the money out there to make such a transportation system possible.
Then there is simply not the electrical distribution system out there that could handle the ridiculously variable electric demand that would make it possible to charge car batteries in short times.
We have one driving around here that has a wrap on it to advertise the business that owns it.
An electric contractor, maybe predictably.
An EV with 50 mile range that could be charged overnite at home would be very useful for my daily shopping, etc…if it cost $10K or less.
“...The issue with the batteries in these cars is, with today’s technology, are insurmountable (in my opinion)....”
All we need to do is repeal those pesky 3 Laws of Thermodynamics and we’re home free!..............
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_thermodynamics
China has one that’s right up your alley!.............
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