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Posted on 07/22/2024 7:44:17 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The American consumer's "love affair" with electric vehicles turned out to be more of a figurative one-night stand. That's the conclusion of many economists today, along with the management at automakers including Ford and General Motors. The Biden administration attempted to force its EV mandate and goose the public into supporting it by spiking the punchbowl in the form of generous taxpayer-funded subsidies and rebates. (It's funny how generous they can be with your money, isn't it?) And for a little while it seemed to work, at least to a degree. There was an initial surge in EV sales, leading some of the larger automakers to introduce new lines of EVs and ramp up production. But soon those sales cooled dramatically, and lots began to fill up with unsold EVs while sales of traditional internal combustion models returned to previous levels. At this point, the conclusion is that the EV push has flopped. So where do we go from here? (Blaze Media)
There's one simple reason automakers like Ford and GM are stepping back from their ambitious EV plans: their customers.
Contrary to the exuberant predictions of Elon Musk, environmental groups, and other industry and government “experts," the love affair between EVs and the American consumer seems to have fizzled after a honeymoon period of robust sales volumes.
Turns out these relatively pricey novelties just aren't as appealing anymore, especially when hybrids offer most of the efficiency without the range anxiety.
The linked report concludes that the shift to going "all in, or even mostly in" on EVs will take decades rather than years if it even happens at all. This is far longer than the time span allowed by the government's current demands of the auto industry. The initial surge drove the EV share in the consumer market from three percent to seven percent. Making it from seven percent to ten percent was painfully slow. There is no reasonable path from there to the 30% that the government wants to mandate in the foreseeable future.
In fact, growth may halt entirely, at least for a time. A recent survey of EV and hybrid vehicle owners showed an increasing number of drivers who made the switch to fully electric vehicles regret their decision and plan to either switch back to a gas-powered model or at least a hybrid when they purchase their next car or truck. .
Hybrids are still outperforming fully electric vehicles and owners have fewer complaints, largely because they don't experience as much "range anxiety." But hybrids are still far more expensive than traditional vehicles on average, so during a rough economic period, making the sale becomes even more difficult.
None of these realities do much to help the auto industry. Reminding them of how much they are doing to "save the planet" doesn't clear out their backlog any faster. Ford is still technically losing money on every EV they sell and the government subsidies are the only things making the vehicles marginally viable. The losses add up far more quickly when the vehicle never winds up being sold at all. This affects not just the manufacturers at the corporate level, but the industry's workers as well.
When Donald Trump recently addressed the autoworker's unions in Detroit, the loudest, most prolonged round of applause he received came when he announced that planned to end the electric vehicle mandates "on day one" after being elected. The president of the UAW recently admitted that internal polls of their members have shown a decided shift away from the Democrats and toward Trump and the GOP.
The Democrats have taken that union's support (and a cut of their dues money) for granted for generations. Today, what are they getting in return? Government policies that are costing them jobs and gutting their employers' profits. And the working class people are responding accordingly. As far as I'm concerned, this is a shift that is long overdue.
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Rather than mandating EV, they are making it almost impossible to build ICE through regulations.
Drill, baby, drill.
One of the most critical reasons to re-elect Trump is to roll back the administrative state and stop them from killing gas, oil, coal, ICE cars, diesel trucks, diesel trains, JP4 powered jet aircraft, etc. Biden & Co are trying to kill all of these.
It remains to be seen if Trump can negotiate with Canada to re-start the Keystone pipeline construction.
“The EV Mandate Push Has Flopped. What’s Plan B?”
1. Steal Election.
2. Mandate EVs.
Problem solved.
“Were”?
You mean the trend is starting to diminish?
Marxists start with suggestions, then ramped up propaganda, then outright demands with arrests if the common people don’t go along.
One way would be refusal to grant gas stations licenses to continue operations, to ban shipment of gas by truck or train, big tax burden on anyone registering a gas vehicle vs. bit tax advantages for EV buyers (as already happens).
Yep. In their idotic reasoning, mandates will simply force the technology to catch up sooner than market forces would.
If they don’t, and we crater our economy, freedoms, and national security in the process..oh well. Just the price to be paid in order to stop the climate apocolypse.
Absolutely!!!
I would suggest an Internal Combustion Engine. It has worked for over a hundred years. Oddly a hybrid car is good. Battery power for short trips and the internal gas powered engine for long trips powered by hydrocarbon fuels also known as gasoline and diesel. You get the best of both.
If you are carrying a lot of weight and long distance electrics are of no use. Energy density and weight of batteries make it a no go.
Get the government the hell out of it and the market will decide the best and cheapest car, truck or semitrailer for the consumer. The consumer is far wiser than the goverment.
hydrogen powered combustion engines are on the horizon.
tho some questions remain.
what will the fuel be?
- high pressure hydrogen tanks
- ammonia (which can produce hydrogen on demand)
- methane
Supposedly, a “cold fusion” type device will be tested in an EV in October. If it works and is practical, it will dramatically reduce the cost and improve the performance and practicality of EVs. Indeed, if true, a cold fusion device would change the world as much or more than oil did.
The Brazilians run their cars on alcohol made from sugar cane.
Where does the hydrogen come from? There aren’t any hydrogen wells or hydrogen reservoirs. So what’s left? Steam methane reforming is the most common method, but it uses hydrocarbons and releases CO2 as a byproduct. HORRORS!!! Electrolysis of water is very energy intensive. Compressing the hydrogen is very energy intensive and where does this energy come from? In the USA 60% from fossil fuel.
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