Free Republic

Germany’s leading car parts supplier ZF has recently been forced to cut one-fifth to one-quarter of its workforce, owing in part to Chinese competition and in part to “weak demand for electric vehicles.” Other firms like Bosch, Continental, and Webasto have also been forced to “restructure.” Yet the CEOs of these companies continue absurdly to believe in the future of “electromobility,” since the European Union plans to outlaw fossil fuel-powered vehicles as of 2035. The short-sightedness of EU bureaucrats will lead inevitably to market implosion and an economic collapse, and the car-makers have no option, it seems, but to comply...

A major solar company has just filed for bankruptcy as its business model is no longer viable in America’s current climate. SunPower announced that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday. SunPower filed for bankruptcy in Delaware after a string of corporate struggles... changes to California’s rooftop solar subsidy programs and high interest rates in Democrat President Joe Biden’s economy have weighed down its business. Before it collapsed, SunPower was among America’s leading solar companies. SunPower will look to sell some of its assets to rival solar company Complete Solaria. Meanwhile, the company and some of its other subsidiaries...

The biggest European car market, Germany, saw the sales of electric vehicles plummet by 36.8% in July from a year earlier, as EV sales are softening worldwide and as Berlin ended subsidies at the end of 2023.New car registrations of battery vehicle vehicles (BEVs) in Germany slumped to 30,762 vehicles in July from the same month of 2023, the latest data rom the German Federal Motor Transport Authority showed on Monday. July marked the largest annual drop in EV sales since the government ended subsidies for EV acquisitions in December 2023. While BEV sales plunged, the overall car market held...

Multibillion-dollar plant planned to bring hundreds of jobs to regionAfter breaking ground in 2023, the company building a plant to produce battery components for electric vehicles in a municipality near Kingston, Ont., says it's delaying construction of the plant citing a slowdown in EV sales. In a statement to CBC News, Umicore Rechargeable Battery Materials Inc. said Friday that its project in Loyalist Township is impacted by the "significant worsening of the EV market context and the impacts this has on the entire supply chain." The project carried a total price tag of up to $2.76 billion and was projected...

Vice President Kamala Harris, seeking the Democrat nomination for president, recently lobbied to eliminate gas-powered cars by 2035 — transitioning fully to electric vehicles (EVs) — despite the impact on millions of American auto jobs. As part of a green agenda while running for president in the 2020 Democrat primary, Harris detailed her plans to abolish sales of gas-powered cars by 2035 and ensure that Americans can only purchase EVs when looking for a new car.

During an interview on Tuesday for Wednesday’s BET News interview special “Black America Votes: The Biden Interview,” President Joe Biden said that his economic policies haven’t resonated with people “because the Republican Party and the MAGA Republicans have been opposed to it, and they’ve been beating up on it.” And because “it’s just taking time for people to see it. And the other thing is, there’s not been a very good job done about saying, this new billion-dollar bridge going over there is brought to you by Joe Biden.” But some of his policy agenda has “resonated for those who...

Suffice to say, all is not well for the Electric Vehicle (EV) industry these days. Despite ample subsidies from the federal government, EV sales are slumping. ... there have been numerous reports of people being trapped inside EVs due to dead batteries. In some of these cases, toddlers have been locked inside of sweltering cars. In one example, on June 20, Renee Sanchez was eager to take her two-year-old granddaughter to the Phoenix Zoo. Early that morning, Sanchez strapped the toddler into the backseat of her Model Y Tesla. After closing the rear door, Sanchez attempted to open the front...

The federal government is spending $1.7 billion to modernize automobile manufacturing facilities, helping the industry compete with foreign subsidies and create and protect jobs.As part of the Automotive Community Benefits Plan, the current administration will extend grants to 11 selected manufacturing plants in eight states, including in Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, that have temporarily closed or were at risk of closing.Federal funding, which will come from the Inflation Reduction Act, will be dedicated to retrofitting factories, installing equipment, and bolstering annual production.Grant capital will also allow these at-risk facilities to convert to manufacturing electric vehicles and related components and a...

NASCAR debuted what it claims is the future of racing, its electric ABB NASCAR EV Prototype, at the Chicago Street Race event on Saturday, but fans were not impressed.The vehicle was developed in partnership with Chevrolet, Ford, Toyota, and electric vehicle (EV) developer ABB, all in an effort to reach NASCAR’s “sustainability” goals. One of those goals is to reach “net-zero” operating emissions in the next ten years, the racing organization said in its press release:While NASCAR is committed to the historic role of the combustion engine in racing, it is also committed to decarbonizing its operations and reducing its...

The electric vehicle revolution is encountering significant hurdles as consumers grapple with high costs, infrastructure challenges, and geopolitical tensions, potentially slowing the transition from traditional gas-powered cars, according to a report by Fast Company. Fast Company reports the automotive industry has undergone a significant transformation with the push towards electric vehicles in recent years. However, the road to widespread EV adoption is proving to be bumpy, with several obstacles threatening to stall progress.

On July 6, due to an ongoing electric power issue, Amtrak canceled service between Boston and New York City for the remainder of the day. Amtrak is communicating directly with impacted customers about this service interruption and offering options for rebooking their travel plans. Amtrak apologizes for any inconvenience caused by the disruption. Our crews are working hard to correct the issues.

NFL star and his family have survived a house fire that was apparently started by a Tesla charger in their garage. Randall Cobb, 33, escaped from the blaze along with his wife Aiyda and three sons Cade, Caspian and Chance - and even returned to save their pet dog, Louie. No one from the family was injured but the fire caused extensive damage to the property in Nashville, Tennessee. “We are lucky to be alive,” said Aiyda Cobb in an Instagram post on Wednesday. “The Tesla charger caught on fire in the garage late last night and quickly spread. We...

A significant share of Americans who own an electric vehicle have buyer's remorse, according to new data. McKinsey & Co.'s Mobility Consumer Pulse for 2024, released this month, found that 46% of EV owners in the U.S. said they were "very" likely to switch back to owning a gas-powered vehicle in their next purchase. The high percentage of Americans who want to make a switch even surprised the consulting firm. "I didn't expect that," the head of McKinsey's Center for Future Mobility, Philipp Kampshoff, told Automotive News. "I thought, 'Once an EV buyer, always an EV buyer.'" In the poll...

A week ago I wrote about a Hertz President Circle member charged $277 for returning a rented Tesla without filling it with gas. That’s the second-most Hertz thing ever, after getting arrested because the rental company reported the car you rented stolen. And just like getting arrested just for being a Hertz customer – and Hertz refusing to admit its mistake lest the police stop believing them when they file false police reports – appears to be anything but a one-off. Being charged exorbitant rates for not filling up the gas on an electric vehicle seems to be a systemic...

Originally, Ford had said in 2021 that it would start production in 2025. Full production at a Ford EV factory in west Tennessee that was to deliver the company’s F150 Lightning electric pickup truck is being delayed. State Sen. Page Walley, a Republican, told the "Tennessee Outlook" full production of the vehicle line was being pushed back by nine months as a result of a “read on the economy.” Ford said in 2021 that it would start production in 2025. Now the electric pickup trucks aren’t expected to be delivered to dealerships until 2026, according to the "Outlook." Ford lost...

Study reveals nearly half of US EV drivers want to return to ICE cars and nearly one-third, globally. The media is baffled.

General Motors is trimming its expected sales and production of all-electric vehicles this year, as U.S. adoption of EVs occurs slower than expected. GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said the company now expects production of 200,000 to 250,000 EVs this year, down from a previously announced range of 200,000 to 300,000. ... Jacobson said GM expects EVs to make up 8% of U.S. sales industrywide this year. That’s lower than many other auto analyst forecasts, which expect EVs to represent around 10% of industry sales in 2024.

... Forty-six percent of Americans say they are "not too likely or not at all likely to purchase" an EV, according to a recent poll by The Associated Press -NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. Earlier this year, luxury German automaker Mercedes delayed its electrification plans by five years, with CEO Ola Kaellenius telling investors the company was still committed to producing combustion engine cars. Last month, Toyota executives announced its engineers were developing smaller, next-gen engines that can run on alternative fuels like liquid hydrogen. Industry insiders are calling...

New vehicles sold in the US will have to average about 38 miles per gallon of gasoline in 2031 in real-world driving, up from about 29 mpg this year, under new federal rules unveiled Friday by the Biden administration. The final rule will increase fuel economy by 2% per year for model years 2027 to 2031 for passenger cars, while SUVs and other light trucks will increase by 2% per year for model years 2029 to 2031, according to requirements released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The final figures are below a proposal released last year. Administration officials...

25 refrigerators. That’s how much the additional electricity consumption per household would be if the average US home adopted electric vehicles (EVs). (Article cross-posted from International Man.) Congressman Thomas Massie—an electrical engineer—revealed this information while discussing with Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, President Biden’s plan to have 50% of cars sold in the US be electric by 2030. The current and future grid in most places will not be able to support each home running 25 refrigerators—not even close. Just look at California, where the grid is already buckling under the existing load. Massie claims, correctly, in my view,...