The EV Bust Claims Five More Victims... and They Aren't Even EVs?

PJ Media ^ | 05/06/2026 | Stephen Green

[SeekAndFind]

Honda's failed bet on electric vehicles means the Japanese auto giant will have to stretch the lifecycles of five top-selling vehicles "in some cases to more than a decade," according to a supplier memo seen by Automotive News.

The company will continue selling existing versions of the Odyssey, Accord, and HR-V, as well as the Acura MDX and Integra, after writing down up to $15.8 billion worth of investments in EVs, including eliminating three new EV models for the U.S. market. 

Car and Driver said the 2023-issue Accord "won't be redesigned until at least early 2030," while "the Odyssey minivan isn't set to be replaced until 2030, while the current HR-V SUV will see its production extended until early 2032." The two Acura models will suffer similar delays.

It seems like just earlier this spring [It was just earlier this spring, Steve —Editor] I reported on Honda's massive losses from betting big on EVs — with a big nudge from Big Stupid Government — but the company's losses show up on more than just the balance sheet. That's why models that the company actually sells and makes money on — like the aforementioned Accord — won't see expected refreshes anytime soon.

There's this little thing called opportunity cost, which is the value of the best alternative you give up when you choose one option over another. Honda bet big on EVs, but then changing market conditions forced the company to scale back those plans to the tune of billions of dollars worth of write-downs.

Worse, however, are the updated models that would have sold in volume that the company chose not to invest in.

[Tell It Right]

I mean, Obama shuttered over 250 coal plants.

True that. Here Obama's EPA forced Alabama Power to close a coal plant and replace it with "clean burning natural gas" fueled power plant. Remember when the Dims were promoting natural gas like it would save our souls from our carbon sins? We had to spend over $1 billion to reroute power lines and relay stations and also close the power plant. That was in Obama's 2nd term. That cost was spread out in our power bills for a handful of years. Then in Brandon's first week in the WH, he issued multiple EO's to make it harder to drill for natural gas. Which made the price of natural gas shoot up. Which also made the price of power shoot up (because the power company adds a rate rider per kWh to offset their fuel costs).

So the Dims forced us to pay to switch to natural gas, then the Dims punished us for using too much natural gas. There's no pleasing them. That got me interested in making my own energy, if feasible. I had a small solar system installed in May 2021 (4 months after Brandon entered the WH). After seeing it track my expectations I converted my two natural gas appliances to electric (variable speed heat pump w electric heat strips, and hybrid water heater with a built-in heat pump). I also did other improvements to the home like added insulation and sealed gaps -- stuff I should have done many years ago anyway. I paid for all of it with a loan that I call my energy project loan. I include the EV costs in it (the costs an EV has that a gas car doesn't have, like the extra cost of the EV payment vs gas car payment and the cost to install the two chargers).

End result: Each month I now make a loan payment + pay a small power bill. This is in place of a sky high power bill + a natural gas bill + gasoline expense. The energy/transportation part of my budget is what it was in year 2019 -- the last Trump year before covid distorted energy prices. To date the energy project has saved $7K in my cash flow (read -- more cash staying in our Roth IRA's growing tax free) than it cost me. When the EV is paid off in a few months, the energy project loan will be paid down much faster, all while my budget feels like it's year 2019 (the energy/transportation part of my budget, obviously not other things like food).

For me it's not an EV vs gas car argument, or a solar power vs coal or natural gas argument. The real power (pardon the pun) is in the word "decentralized". Decentralized solar means I can bring in my own energy and be less dependent on the over-regulated energy market. It'd be cost prohibitive for me to make my solar system so powerful that I can be completely off the grid (fighting the law of diminishing returns). At least at current power rates. But having to buy only 25% or so of our energy from the energy market (the 20% of my power + what little gasoline we buy for the truck for local driving + long trips require us to buy either power or gas, depending on which car we take) means that the Dims' stupid warmageddon cult regulations mess with my energy budget only 25% as much.