Posted on 01/22/2026 5:35:47 AM PST by MtnClimber
Over the past couple of years, I have had several posts here expressing skepticism about whether electric vehicles (EVs) were really the wave of the future. Most recently, I had a post on December 17 noting the rapid decline of EV sales in the U.S. during the fourth quarter of 2025, following the expiration of certain tax credits on September 30. Overall, my take has been that the EV market has been propped up by government subsidies and benefits and, like all businesses dependent on government handouts, would likely shrink drastically (if not completely disappear) without them.
For a different take, you might wonder where The New York Times stands on this. Well, I have your answer. Yesterday, they gave over a big chunk of their editorial page to an op-ed by a guy named Bill Saporito, headlined “$25 Billion. That’s What Trump Cost Detroit.” The thesis is that EVs are wondrous products, and that American EVs would be conquering the world, and earning big profits for the automakers, but for a “war” against EVs instigated by President Trump.
Bill Saporito, if you haven’t heard of him, is a business journalist who has really been around the block in mainstream publications, mostly under the umbrella of the former Time, Inc. He has been a big-time writer and/or editor at outlets like Fortune, Inc., and Time, where he has been Assistant Managing Editor and was at some point in charge of both business and sports. (Maybe he is as responsible as anyone for running the whole Time, Inc. enterprise into the ground.)
So Bill, what is your take on EVs? According to Saporito, the recent massive write-downs of investments in EVs by Ford ($19.5 billion) and GM ($6 billion) have been caused by “President Trump’s gratuitous war against electric vehicles,” which “is forcing manufacturers to return to an increasingly outdated past.” The CEOs of those companies have been trying to make all the right moves to “futureproof” their enterprises in shifting marketplaces but, says Saporito, “it is pretty difficult to futureproof your company against stupid.”
Saporito continues that EVs are an “obviously beneficial” technology, and that Trump’s war on them is motivated by some combination of vindictiveness, spite, and ignorance of the importance of “climate change.” In short, “stupid”:
Mr. Trump’s efforts to undermine an obviously beneficial technology are something that, as far as I can tell, no large American company previously encountered. . . . One big reason for Mr. Trump’s rejection of E.V.s is simple: President Joe Biden championed them as his administration pushed greener forms of transportation and energy. . . . The vindictive, oil-loving Mr. Trump, who equates green with woke and views climate change as heresy, has worked assiduously to undo it, working to cancel consumer tax incentives and billions in funds for E.V. charging and battery manufacturing projects.
Remarkably, despite the extremely harsh language directed at Trump, Saporito doesn’t mention anything that the supposed “war” consists of beyond the withdrawal of previous subsidies and tax credits. Since when is a business entitled to subsidies and tax credits? Outside social welfare fields like education and health care, nearly all businesses operate without government handouts. Is the government conducting a “war” against people who make computers, or who build houses, by not offering them subsidies and tax credits?
As the final crushing piece of evidence to prove his case that rushing to EVs is “obviously beneficial,” Saporito cites the apparent success of Chinese EV champion BYD. They are leaving us in their dust!
[GM’s foreign competitors] remain fully committed to E.V.s. That’s especially true of China, where BYD has become the world’s largest E.V. maker, overtaking Tesla. BYD started as a battery maker and now exports its low-priced E.V.s to more than 70 countries. Eventually, the United States will be one of them. Our ability to compete with BYD and other Chinese competitors is being undermined.
I wonder if Saporito is keeping up with the latest on BYD, let alone the Chinese EV market generally. Here is a piece from the Vision Times from December 16, headline “BYD Faces Mounting Inventory and Surging Debt as Quality Complaints Flood the Internet.” (To be fair, Vision Times is uniformly highly critical of the Chinese government and its policies.). Excerpt:
In short, BYD’s net profit fell by nearly one-third in the first three quarters of 2025, while its debt burden surged several-fold. Although BYD still ranked first in China’s new-energy vehicle market with retail sales of 307,000 units in November 2025, year-on-year sales dropped sharply by 26.5 percent.
It seems that China is also in the process of withdrawing subsidies and tax credits for purchases of EVs:
With government trade-in subsidies being reduced or suspended and the halving of new-energy vehicle purchase tax incentives set for next year, consumer willingness to buy cars has weakened or been postponed.
Does that mean that China is also conducting a “war” on EVs?
The Vision Times piece concludes by quoting a blogger calling himself “Cold-Eyed Finance” on the subject of the Chinese EV manufacturing sector:
“China’s electric vehicle industry has no easy way out. Overcapacity is the core problem. Manufacturers are locked in vicious internal competition, slashing prices and costs. The result is mounting losses while production continues. After this phase, it will be a test of endurance—and many won’t last. A wave of bankruptcies in China’s EV sector is likely to accelerate.”
I would suggest to Mr. Saporito that it might take a bit more analysis to figure out what the “stupid” policies are here.
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
When someone tries to force something on me, my reflex reaction is to resist.
Manhattan Contrarian ping
China will dump their EVs in Canada....and Canada will learn how China works....the hard way.
TDS
I was never like that my money went to pockets of rich people, who liked driving in HOV lines and demonstrating their superiority by showing up in Tesla’s!
But there are more industries being subsidized.
Solar, wind, corn and ethanol.
Mostly because of the Obama/Biden “war on coal”!
It’s been a 60 year war against America. De-industrialization. Tens of thousands of factories closed down. Good jobs along with them. Careers. Dystopian hellscapes left in their wake. I’ve watched it all with increasing disbelief.
Direct war on Energy, which is of course the heart of the matter. There is no replacement for oil and gas. At least none has been offered.
“Outdated” is a curious phrase to use. The carbon they seek to eliminate is people, apparently.
I have no use of EVs, but but battery tech continues to improve. What’s stupid is the lack of nuclear plant construction to create a rock solid energy grid to support America’s growing electricity demands, be it EVs or our new AI overlords.
For example, the worst road-side chargers are the ones that are either "free" or forced (i.e. Electrify America chargers are the govt's punishment on Volkswagen over dieselgate). But the chargers I pay for tend to be top notch (10-15 minute charge, clean restrooms, well lit at night, windshield washer bucket).
And the Dim voters thank me for "saving the planet" and using my "EV credit". Give me a break! The EV credit just artificially inflated the up-front price before "helping" me later when I filed my taxes. Now that the govt's not "helping", EV prices have dropped, making it easier for potential buyers to get one. (Think free market economics.)
And your point about the lack of nuclear plant construction is spot on. My fear is that if that gets underway, the Dims will figure out another reason to stop them. The Dims are never happy. They assured us in the Obama years that switching over to "clean burning natural gas" would save our souls from our carbon sins. Then a few years later they hate on natural gas more than Kamala hates sobriety.
IMHO we're all better off if each family can figure out some what to have decentralized energy. That's why I have a lot of solar. Only God regulates how much sun I get, and only I regulate what's done with that energy after that. (One of the main reasons I got an EV as one of our two cars.) Only 20% of our power has to be pulled from the grid. So the Dims can regulate-up, and price-up, only 20% of the energy we buy for our all-electric home, including charging the EV for our local driving. (Not counting the miles we charge away from home, or the driving we do in our gas pickup.)
If the technology was so “obviously beneficial”, people would be lining up to adopt it. There wouldn’t need to be massive subsidies and mandates.
The auto model with the second largest sales in the whole world in 2024 was a Tesla Model Y. It was posted here that the Model Y is the car model with the greatest sales in the world in 2025.
Tesla makes an electric vehicle, totally designed from scratch. They attract lots of buyers.
The legacy auto manufacturers lacked engineering know how and tried to electrify an existing Vehicle design. They failed in the execution.
Many here express disdain for EV’s not realizing that they are irrelevant. There are enough in the world who do want a reliable EV to allow Tesla to not only survive but to wondrously prosper.
Any policy is dumb
Why are we getting away from capitalism
EVs are dumb. People don’t consider how much energy they use to make, to fuel. They are beating up roads and bridges they are ridiculously heavy. It takes energy to move such a heavy object and to repair the roads - no one will keep track of that statistic
The use of cobalt causes terrible use of child labor (exposure is very unhealthy) in places like Congo, where, recently, 80 kids were killed in a cobalt mine cave in
Corporate and political pressure (corporate and politics are now more combined than ever) cause people to have a political view of EVs. Leftists favor them and where they do, intelligent discussion is off the table
But it’s a free country ( still, so far) so they can have an EV. Who cares? Government can stay out of it. But they won’t
Part of the green scam
I do not oppose EVs. I oppose having my tax money used to subsidize someone else buying one. It is great that battery technology is improving. Solar panels with batteries and inverters is the only option in some places. Many people just like the concept and want it installed in their home. All of that is great. The subsidies and mandates are not great.
I agree with your thought.
However, to obtain the tax cut subsidy applied as a result of purchasing an EV, one must first have a tax bill in excess of $7,500. For many there would be no real subsidy
What is encouraging is that the average person seems to now understand what a scam wind turbines are.
There have been a few posts in the last month on Facebook regarding wind turbines in MA, CT, RI. Some that were torn down recently.
The good part is that most of the comments were from people that have figured out that these turbines are a huge waste of money. That their power output is inconsistent and on average the most expensive power generation per killawatt.
Basically, all the things people have been pointing out on this forum for a decade or more.
Yes, there are the ignorant liberals who have been taken in buy the promise of clean power. However, I say ignorant because when you(meaning ME)point out how they only generate power when the wind is blowing just right. Not too fast, not too slow and the down time for maintenance they NEVER come back with a retort. Especially, when you point out the literal tons of concrete in their base and the fact that the blades are typically buried in a land fill after twenty years.
People here in New England MAY finally smarten up now that their electric bills are now in the $200-400/month range.
Maybe they will rethink their opposition to the NIMBY natural gas pipelines or building another NUCLEAR reactor or two.
EVs can and do have a part in some areas. Long distant over
the road isn’t it at this time. But EVs are used in areas such as
short trips and transport of local products within the domain of
manufacturing entities, etc.
I wonder if Saporito is keeping up with the latest on BYD, ...“BYD Faces Mounting Inventory and Surging Debt as Quality Complaints Flood the Internet.” ...
...BYD’s net profit fell by nearly one-third in the first three quarters of 2025, while its debt burden surged several-fold....
...Overcapacity is the core problem. Manufacturers are locked in vicious internal competition, slashing prices and costs. ... A wave of bankruptcies in China’s EV sector is likely to accelerate.”
My understanding, and commented on by Ford’s CEO. China manufacturing beats USA manufacturing. The production line is all (??) robots, no humans
IOW, the production process is all fixed cost, zero variable cost.
China EV manufacturers NEED volume to reduce cost per unit.
With low volume and high fixed cost, they collaspe
The largest issue I personally have with the EVs is their potential to burn my house to the ground. Which is why you should NEVER park/charge one in your garage attached to your house.
Yes, Internal Combustion engines have more frequent fires. They also outnumber EVs by at least 15 to one. Gasoline/diesel fires can be put out with a basic fire extinguisher or water and lack of oxygen.
The biggest issue is that the average US fire department can NOT extinguish an EV fire. Their only course of action is to let them burn out. Then put the vehicle on a trailer, cover it with a fire blanket and take it somewhere to potentially submerge it in water for several days. This is because sometimes they reignite several times.
This is all information given to me by the FIRE CHIEF in my local town.
This is also why I don not charge my 30 volt Stihl Chainsaw and hedge trimmer battery overnight even in my garage.
If it starts on fire it could burn my house down.
My first Motorola smart phone got so hot charging on my desk that I could not pick it up. I unplugged it and traded it in the next day. Never bought another Motorola product again.
These are all issues with Lithium Ion batteries. The EV concept is good. Especially for a basic commuter car. The current battery power system is not. So, WHEN they come out with a SOLID STATE battery that is not going to burn my house down, then I will probably buy an EV.
Panasonic & Toyota have partnered along with every other manufacturer to come out with a solid state battery. WHEN, NOT IF they do it will be the next step in the revolution.
He keeps saying “stupid”.
Stupid, is remaining blissfully unaware that there isn’t enough electricity produced to run them all. Charging infrastructure is sorely lacking. If they were better than internal combustion engines they wouldn’t need to be subsidized. Everyone would demand one. That is not happening at this point.
EVs are a PIA if you need to drive any distance at all, which most of us do, especially those of us in Western states like California.
EV stations are often closed, the “pumps” broken - or in the case of my daughter and SIL - none of the nozzles fit their EV rental car. They had to leave our gathering early in order to go to a distant EV charging station that had only two chargers, hoping that at least one of them worked.
SIL said “never again.”
And good luck putting EV stations in the hood.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.