Automakers have been backtracking on their EV goals over the past year as consumer interest failed to keep up with the vision automakers had.
That vision appears to have been born from the idea that if the federal government mandated people to drive electric cars, then people would buy them. [emphasis, links added]
Not only did consumers rebel against this EV future, but they also voted for a candidate who had vowed throughout his campaign to end the Biden-Harris administration’s EV mandate.
On Monday, President Donald Trump made good on the promise, signing the “Unleashing American Energy” executive order. Among other things, it eliminates the EV mandate to “promote true consumer choice.”
Now, the automakers who were already losing billions on EVs could be in more trouble, depending on how much EV sales were buoyed by the mandates the automakers were counting on.
“I think the EV mistake has basically crippled the U.S. automotive industry, and unless there are bailouts, I can’t see these guys surviving,” Jack Lifton, executive chairman of the Critical Minerals Institutetold Just the News.
Scaling back
Trump’s order revokes a non-binding goal Biden had set in 2021 to make half of all new cars sold to be electric by 2030.
To block the EPA’s tailpipe emissions standards, which by some estimates would require 66% of all new cars sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2032,
Trump would have to work with the EPA to rewrite its rules. Either that or Congress could legislate the rule away.
While most consumers still want gas-powered cars, EV adoption rates continued to climb last year.
According to Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book, EV sales jumped 15.2% year over year in the last quarter of 2024, and full-year EV sales reached 1.3 million, an increase of 7.3% in 2023.
Automakers, however, had expected sales volumes to be much higher, and when they weren’t keeping pace, they began realigning their EV targets with what consumers appear to want.
Ford had planned to invest 40% of its capital budget in electric vehicle lines, but in August, that was brought down to 30%. The company also scrapped plans for a three-row electric SUV.
General Motors had planned to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2035. Last July, the company said it was pushing back the opening of an EV manufacturing plant in Michigan to mid-2026, and pausing plans for an electric line in its Buick brand.
Stellantis also scaled back its EV targets last fall and temporarily suspended production of an EV Fiat 500 due to sluggish demand.
Meanwhile, the automakers have also been losing billions on their EV bet.
Ford, which separates its EV business from other parts of the company, lost $3.7 billion in the first three quarters of 2024. General Motors expects to narrow its losses on EVs this year by $2 billion to $4 billion.
All-electric Rivian lost $75,563 on every EV it sold in the third quarter, rivaling the $58,391 that Ford lost for each EV it sold, according to energy expert Robert Bryce.
Despite these losses, Bryce reports, the Department of Energy Loans Program Office gave the carmaker a $6.57 billion loan guarantee.
All electric Tesla saw its net income rise in the third quarter of 2024 to nearly $2.17 billion, or 62 cents a share, up from $1.85 billion, or 53 cents a share, a year ago.
However, Politico reports that the automaker earned $10.7 billion over 10 years selling credits from government climate programs designed to encourage automakers to switch to EVs.
This funding stream accounted for 33% of the company’s profits. If Congress repeals the program, that could impact Tesla’s profits considerably.
Read rest at Just The News
Sonnyhill and Steve got here before I did, apparently, but they are correct, of course. Third-generation Mr. Toyoda has been saying for years that everyone going all-electric was a big mistake. Not enough mining for the trace minerals needed, not enough electricity, not a good-enough electric grid, and the list goes on. They are smart at Toyota. That’s why they make the most reliable cars and their resale value is off the charts, relatively speaking. I also read recently (within a year) that Toyota was working on a new type of battery but I can’t remember the details. Supposed to be a game-changer. Watch out for Toyota.
It is solid business practice to do market research before deciding what a company will offer the consumer. Some auto makers use to do this. Now the climate change agenda has displaced sound business practice.
I like the description of EVs as golf carts.
Fair weather, silent, limited range, if you have to walk it ain’t so bad. My Ford Raptor is a driver, an EV is a wedge.
Get back to making regular Cars since the American Consumer wont be crowding at the Auto Lots to buy the EV,s nobody wants and the Big Three wont lose Millions
What did Toyota see that Detroit didn’t?
Toyota didn’t step in the heap of excrement laid out for car builders by government. Are Ford, GM and Stellantis management just plain stupid? Surely market research should have tipped them off. Americans, when asked if they would endure financial loss in order to “fight” climate change, the majority said no. Why would they wait in line to charge their EV then wait even longer for their car to charge? Only if they had no other choice of transportation. Americans just voted for freedom of energy choices. Maybe Toyota understands Americans better than Detroit.
Even the electrics Toyota were selling were either just hybrids or plug-in hybrids. Toyota saw that even the consumers who were interested in EVs didn’t want to depend only on the batteries. So a plug-in hybrid would allow their local driving be essentially an EV but longer drives the car would act like a hybrid allowing them the ability to refuel at a gas station and not depend on EV charging stations.
If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, the frigid cold is reason enough alone not to get an EV. The steps you have to jump through to charge a cold battery are as burdensome as the costs.
Tom, when we were having -10F lows last week even our newscaster said that if you have an EV make sure you watch how much of a charge you have since cold weather like that will reduce your range significantly. Surprised he put that out there since those pushing EVs want to ignore that minor issue!