It was less than three years ago — early 2023 — that I was writing about the then-universal government and industry line that electric vehicles (EVs) would soon be taking over the American car market. In April 2022 the Biden Administration had adopted aggressive vehicle mileage standards intended to be achievable only through rapid transition to EVs. Our “climate leader” states, California and New York, had then adopted regulations in August and September 2022, respectively, mandating a phase-out of sales of combustion vehicles, to culminate in 2035, after which only EVs would be allowed. In a post in January 2023, I linked to the websites of Ford and GM, where they both touted their grand plans for rapid conversion of their companies to the manufacture of mostly or entirely EVs. At that time, Ford was claiming that it would “lead America’s shift to EVs,” and would achieve 50% of its sales in that category by 2030. GM bragged about its “path to an all-electric future” by 2035.
In a post on February 23, 2023, I expressed skepticism.
It seems like all the smart people have made up their minds that the future of automobiles belongs to electric vehicles. . . . So, are electric vehicles about to sweep the country and become the dominant form of transportation? I bet against it.
Here was my reasoning:
This is just a specific instance of the general principle that it is always wise to bet against central planning of the economy. EVs may be a successful niche product for a small number of wealthy consumers, but the idea that they will fully replace gasoline powered cars in short order is the dream of central planners, who think they can implement their dream by coercion. Central planning never works, and won’t work this time either.
The past few weeks have brought a lot of news on the EV front. The short version is that even I would not have predicted how quickly and completely the EV fantasy has collapsed.
The background, of course, is that the second Trump administration took prompt steps on re-entering office to end the huge federal support that had been propping up EV sales. The large tax credit for EV purchases was ended by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed on July 4 and effective after September 30, 2025. On December 3, the administration announced the roll-back of the vehicle mileage standards known as “CAFE,” to levels at which combustion vehicles can comply.
The collapse of EV sales began immediately with the end of the tax credit. On October 31, trade publication Inside EVs reported on the first month’s results after the end of the credit:
Both J.D. Power and S&P Global Mobility estimate that October’s EV market share plummeted to around 5% in the U.S., from a record high of over 12% in September. The battery-powered share of sales also dropped significantly on a year-over-year basis, from over 8% in October 2024. The last time EVs made up 5% of U.S. vehicle sales was in early 2022. According to S&P Global Mobility, some 64,000 new electric vehicles were sold in October. That’s an epic drop from September, when Americans bought or leased nearly 150,000 EVs as they scrambled to cash in on the expiring $7,500 incentive.
The big automakers were quick to realize that they had to do a pivot. On December 15 the Wall Street Journal reported that Ford would take a massive charge of $19.5 billion to write down its EV investments:
Ford Motor said Monday it expected to take about $19.5 billion in charges, mainly tied to its electric-vehicle business, a massive hit as the automaker retrenches in the face of sinking EV demand. The sum is among the largest impairments taken by a company and marks the U.S. auto industry’s biggest reckoning to date that it can’t realize its electric-vehicle ambitions anytime soon.
The $19.5 billion is in addition to some $13 billion of operating losses that Ford has incurred over the past 3 years trying to compete in the EV business, even with the huge government subsidies:
Ford . . . has lost $13 billion on its EV business since 2023. . . .
Over at GM, the write-down is smaller, but the change of direction is no less stark. From NBC News, October 16:
On Tuesday, General Motors reported it was taking losses totaling $1.6 billion related to planned changes to its EV rollout. The company attributed some of the change to President Donald Trump’s elimination of the $7,500 in EV purchasing incentives enacted by President Joe Biden.
Nor is the collapse of EV sales limited to Ford and GM. From the NBC piece, as to Tesla:
Plunging sales at Tesla — still the U.S. leader in EV sales — are also contributing to the weakening outlook. Its second-quarter sales dropped almost 13%, and CEO Elon Musk has warned of some “rough quarters” ahead for the company.
And a comparable phenomenon is occurring in other countries, although under differing regulatory and policy regimes. From the Wall Street Journal, October 14:
The Rest of the World Is Following America’s Retreat on EVs. Canada, U.K. and European Union back off electric-vehicle targets as economic reality sets in and even China shows cracks. . . . Carmakers argue the EV business model is an unprofitable proposition given still-high battery costs, spotty car-charging networks and dwindling government subsidies. Incentive programs have ended or have been pared back across Europe and in the U.S. and Canada.
Let’s face it, this was always ill-conceived central planning, and it was never going to work. I went back to the links that I had included to the Ford and GM websites in my January 2022 post. Both links remain active, but the excited talk about leading the way to an all-EV future has been scrubbed from both. Instead, if you go there, you will find, in the case of GM, further links to follow if you want to buy yourself an EV; and in the case of Ford, general news about the company. Reality has returned.
If people want to buy EVs or any other green products, let them except don’t expect other citizens to approve the idea of their tax dollars going to help the purchase. And when governments try to introduce mandates forcing people to buy these things, it does more to increase resentment than to accelerate sales.
No mention of the impact of full self driving on either car sales in general or specifically for Tesla which is the only brand offering it to the public.
And for those who are going to say its not full self driving…maybe get out more.
And of course, it’s not ‘full self driving”, is it? I believe you actually have to sit in the drivers seat, controlling the steering at least. FSD is classified as a level 2 ADAS (advanced driver assistance system). Level 3 systems exist already, but are not Tesla.
My vehicle makes no “self driving” claims, but will happily drive itself nicely for about 15 seconds before it starts to slow while showing a message that I need to resume manual control of the steering.
BEVs are excellent for niche use. Don’t suit my requirements, though. Even a hybrid gives no advantage. Nor does a diesel. I must be a dinosaur, I guess.
If you want to ride in a car you don’t have to drive yourself, why not just take taxis?
That’s going to be part of it. Once full self driving coverage accelerates, the “taxi’s” will be driverless and cheaper. So even more people will opt out of getting their license and owning a car. That’d be part of the analysis that’s missing IMO.
I understand they already have them in New York City.
And why not – clearly there’s a critical shortage of things that can take you out in NYC?
Delusional Nostra-dumb-ass fantasy prediction..
You’ve been watching too many sci-fi movies.
Did you know something…. most people like driving cars for themselves. !!
You need help old son before you go completely ga ga
Said just like a blacksmith of old. I assume you dont appreciate what full self driving will mean in the future because you love to drive and cant imagine it any other way?
You must be a Dumbocrat… you want someone else to do everything for you.
If you want to ride in a car that you don’t have to drive yourself, why not employ a chauffeur ?
At least in Europe the move is to increase the modal split of more sustainable modes of transport and make cities more livable (see Paris for example). People from the suburbs will have to get used to park&ride.
The younger generation there is also not keen on getting a driver license. Many get in their mid-thirties when they move to the suburbs.
You really think Paris is livable? Have you been there recently?
ROFL sure … what planet are you from again?
you’re a nutcase, who has never had to live and work in Paris.
I do regularly.
P+R??? U never went there.
Did you ever imagine what those stoopid Hidalgo voting numpties get served up with there?
Metros stinking of piss…and nightmare jammed solid RER trains where you stand for hrs per day…
max speed on Perif of 50km/h no matter how much or little traffic there is!
You have not the slightest idea about young people anyhow, least of all in France.
Most of them prefer shirking to working and run red lights constantly on their e-bikes.
In Canada, the government makes it expensive and time consuming for the young to get a license,. This contributes to unemployment when public transport is not able to get people to where the jobs are. And on top of this, insurance rates are so high for young men that many families cannot afford them, and a minimum wage entry level job won’t support it.
My son in law was spending 1.5 hours on a commute that takes 15 min in a car. Do this twice a day and it is discouraging. His job opportunities expanded once he got his license.
Self driving isn’t an EV defense.
Whether EV or ICE, fully automated cars would be a boon. >40,000 vehicle deaths occur in North America annually, usually by human error, compared to ~400 weather deaths.
Self driving cars react faster than humans, don’t get tired or drunk , don’t text, and maintain safe following distances consistently.
Crap
In principal full self driving could be added to ICE vehicles, of course. I didn’t even suggest full self driving would be EV only in my posts, but its still true that Tesla is the only brand with full self driving available to the public.
That might have some credibility if you’d capitalized it and added the trademark™ symbol.
We need more ICE vehicles filled with ICE agents out in neighborhoods, doing their jobs.
What is being talked about here is autonomy. And the Tesla driver-assist system is not fully autonomous, thankfully.
Tesla’s full self driving is now supervised and is allowing more and more leeway to not pay attention. It drives people from A to B and is improving its parking. For all intents and purposes it’s fully autonomous.
I reiterate my statement regarding driving to my house, and my offer. Let me see some evidence that these things really are fully self-driving.
I would love to see your fully autonomous self- driving system in Cornwall in the UK, where I live – narrow, winding, hilly roads, with many horses, caravans, and tractors, forcing drivers to stop and negotiate with those coming the opposite way.
Try this which is every bit as difficult as the narrow UK streets I’ve driven on.
You’re welcome to come to Cornwall in Summer and try it.
I missed the car negotiating with the rider of a horse before overtaking on a narrow lane, as I have had to do quite often.
I’m sure Tesla will have horses in its training set but for the time being, you can simply take over if you’re not sure the car can handle it.
The Tesla will then negotiate with the rider? I have had to do this frequently.
Believe it or not, its all a matter of training. Already, the Tesla AI is smart enough to understand interactions at drive-thoughs, for example.
Dream on, chum.
Have you heard about the self-driving Waymo taxis which failed in San Francisco after the blackout there? Without traffic lights they were unable to negotiate intersections.
Yes, Waymo’s full self driving strategy is fatally flawed as far as I’m concerned. When Elon said their reliance on LIDAR doomed them, he wasn’t kidding.
Tesla full self driving wasn’t impacted by the blackout.
“Self driving cars react faster than humans”
Except when they don’t. Which is embarrassingly often. That’s why the legal system in California is finally moving (albeit ponderously) to curb Musk’s blatantly improper “Full Self Driving” advertising.
About damn time if you ask me.
And yet Waymo just announced that it is going to make its cars drive more like humans, but not unsafely!
You mean they won’t just drive right through a police situation?
But there is no inherent connection between self-driving and EV. The only practical connection is that Tesla makes only EVs and is the leader in self-driving. But that could change.
If you want to make a serious forecast on this stuff, you cannot simply make vague general assertions. You have to get specific, starting with present day values of the variables, say 2023-4, what people actually did, and then compare them with some future date by which you think they will have changed.
The variables probably are: how many cars are in the installed base, what proportion of the population owns a car, how far they are driven in a year, and what other forms of travel are used, and for how many passenger miles. For instance buses or taxis.
Do this in two columns and we can have a sensible discussion about what is plausible for the future of personal transport, including EVs and self driving.
I think the big error the activist tendency commits is to assume that products are interchangeable when they are not. I think a plausible account of a move to EVs will see total ownership fall, proportion carless rise, and total travel fall, a lot. And a move to self driving on any scale will see all of these but more so.
The result will be much less mobile population, less travelling of any sort, and probably an economics decline as a result.
And for those who are going to say its not full self driving
I’ll consider the possibility that it is when a “self driving” vehicle is able to drive itself to my house. If you have one I’m happy to provide an address privately for the experiment.
Just stay away from crosswalks!
https://youtu.be/bit1OjJBB0Y
Having been involved in self-flying aircraft for years, the idea of a self-driving auto scares the willies out of me. And, if you were to get out more, you’d know that the State of California has directed Tesla to stop billing it as self-driving. It is merely a driver assist system.
No need to mention it because it doesn’t drive decisions to move to EV. The reasoning dealt with an all out move to EVs and why not to bet on it. If you’re not ready for an EV you’re likely not going to change your mind if someone said, “what about self-driving cars?”
It’s completely unrelated
Its a major differentiating factor. Many vocal people on this forum irrationally hate EVs and see no point in full self driving. They just hate change and believe they’re being disadvantaged when other people embrace change.
My belief is that as the public becomes more aware of it, and hopefully the price comes down, full self driving will be the next “must have” for cars because not having to drive is a massive benefit even if the current generation of drivers still do drive from time to time.
so you WANT them to use their cars more? just checking
Tesla stock is setting new highs because of its lucrative taxi prospects,
The cars have no steering wheel,
Hundreds are in service at certain locations
You call for a Tesla to come to a certain address, you get in, tell the vehicle to go to another address and you get out.
The taxi charges appear on your credit card.
The taxi drives back to have its battery topped off, if needed, and waits for the next customer.
This setup will be hugely profitable.
Of course, the same can be done with gasoline vehicles, so I am surprised some companies have not risen to the challenge.
Its the same software in the consumer cars. They’re all capable of it (at least the ones since 2022 with hardware V4 anyway)
Power outage in San Fransico yesterday, all the self driving cars bricked in place when the traffic lights went off.
Just saw that news too: https://sfstandard.com/2025/12/20/waymo-sf-blackout-robotaxi-traffic-jams/
So much for “fully self driving”
Yes, all the Waymos stopped working, but the Teslas were fine. IMO the Waymo full self driving strategy is fatally flawed. All those years ago Elon said cars with full self driving based on LIDAR were doomed and nothing has changed.
but the Teslas were fine
So send one to my house.
The article leaves out the other 2 contributors
1.) The amount of grid power that is going to be consumed by data centers and AI stretching electricity generation beyond even the wildest renewable hopes.
2.) Governments realizing there tax from ICE cars is going to drop and needing to bring in charges on EVs to cover the shortfall.
There’s something even more fundamental than your two important points – the global mining industry will NOT be able to provide the quantity of metals and minerals and at the pace necessary to achieve the pipe dream by 2050. Just one example is copper:
Current global copper production is 25 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa);
Global copper Reserves are 880 million tonnes (Mt);
The quantity of copper required to be produced between now and 2050 – in order to construct the required wind turbines, solar panels, batteries for EVs and the massive batteries required to cover for when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, and to extend grid sizes by 3-fold – is 6 BILLION tonnes (Bt);
At current rates of production, to produce 6Bt of copper would take 240 years, or;
To produce 6Bt by 2050, copper production would have to be increased overnight/by tomorrow morning from 25Mtpa to 240Mtpa;
And if that was achievable – IT IS NOT – current global copper Reserves would be depleted in . . . less than 4 years.
And it’s actually worse for nickel, graphite, rare earths, etc.
So it ain’t going to happen.
Numbers – we doan need
no stinkin’ numbers !
At least they all got paid millions and much more in stock options for performing in the play.
More good news. This doesn’t have a damn thing to do with EVs as much as crappy government. If it weren’t for government pushing auto makers around and threatening them they wouldn’t have committed to the EV folly. A lot of corporations are tied at the hip to government because they know they can withstand harmful regulations easier than small businesses. Smaller outfits can’t sustain the added costs and eventually go out of business or are bought out. It is an ugly thing. Government needs to stop interfering with business their soul duty is to lightly regulate it.
Their sole duty is to protect rights. Regulating any industry is not an enumerated power in the Constitution.
The state of Wokeachusetts brags that it has the strongest regulation of forestry in the world. The result- very little forestry. Cutting barely amounts to 5% of growth. It’s gotten less the more they regulate. The enviros of course are thrilled- gonna keep the carbon in the forest and help save the planet.
Until it all burns to the ground because that’s how nature does ‘forest management’…
not an enumerated power in the Constitution.
Never seems to stop them…
Well, the power—and indeed responsibility—for the US Government to regulate industry as well a do many other things not specifically stated in the US Constitution is recognized by most informed citizens, and has been confirmed by many SCOTUS rulings, is found in Article I “Legislative Branch”, Section 8 “Enumerated Powers”, Clause 1 “General Welfare” of the Constitution, commonly known as the “General Welfare” clause:
“The Congress shall have Power To . . . provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States . . .”
— for full text see, for example, https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/article-1/section-8/ (my bold emphasis added)
Some examples of governmental entities not envisioned at the time of passage of the Constitution and its Bill of Rights but fully compliant with the General Welfare clause:
— the FDA
— the USDA
— the EPA
— the FCC
— The Federal Reserve
— the SSA and its “retirement” system
— NASA
(the list goes on, and on, and on, and on . . .)
Thankfully, the authors of the original Constitution and its subsequent Bill of Rights amendments were wise enough to include the General Welfare clause to cover progress that they knew was to come along, but they couldn’t possibly envision, let alone describe in detail in those documents.
Oh, and how could I have overlooked the FAA? . . . you know, the governmental regulatory agency responsible for the safety and operational efficiency of air transport across these United States, as well as for regulating the international flights of both US and foreign aircraft entering/leaving the US.
At the time of the passage and ratification of the US Constitution (1788) engine-powered flight of heavier-than-air vehicles wasn’t even dreamt of . . . and it wasn’t demonstrated as being practical until 1903.
Also, there is no such thing as an acknowledged “right”—inalienable or otherwise—for a person to legally travel by aircraft except that specifically allowed by the FAA.
But perhaps you and others really don’t appreciate that the aircraft industry, from manufacturers to operators, are in fact heavily regulated by the US government.
The FAA is also responsible for the certification of US pilots and other flight crew, maintainers and other ground personnel, air traffic controllers and flight facilities, and is also responsible for certification of civilian aircraft. The FAA also has a role in rocket launches, at least while the vehicle is in the FAA’s jurisdiction.
Yes, all part of the FAA regulations of “operations” of aircraft within US borders (as well as US aircraft/pilot operations outside of the US borders).
Good addition about the FAA also regulating rocket flights! I will further add that it’s not just launches that they control/regulate/approve, but also US-originated space vehicle international flight profiles, reentry trajectories, and predicted ocean ground impact/landing coordinates. The FAA frequently issues NOTAMs (notices to airmen) about certain “airspace areas” being temporarily closed to air traffic for space vehicle reentry events.
Reference: https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/pham_html/chap31_section_3.html
The FAA frequently directly issues NOTAMs (notices to airmen) and indirectly, via the US Coast Guard and Navy, BNMs (broadcast notices to mariners) . . . see
https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/broadcast-notice-to-mariners-message?guid=65854193
for one such example.
Thanks for the correction (sole). Okay I’ll bite how do you protect rights?
The elites have been buying EVs, primarily as second vehicles.
The elites will continue to buy EVs.
The reality that is setting in is that we’re running out of those elites and getting down to the common folks with less discretionary funds.
Some rental companies like Hertz tried replacing a segment of their fleet with EVs and found it to be unprofitable. A niche car for a niche market.
There is a market for EVs and they’ll keep selling into that niche even without virtue signaling buyers. It’s much smaller, and probably close to being saturated, but still there. What I see is every Chinese citizen getting a ‘free’ car if they meet certain criteria. China will be filling the garages in their ‘Ghost Cities’ with excess EVs and offering them as an incentive to move in 🙂
China has vast graveyards of EV’s that no one wants.
Google says Ford sold 12 million vehicles over the last 3 years. The $19.5 + $13 billion comes to $33 billion. That’s $2700 per car subsidy; actually a little more, since 5+% were EVs. And no telling how many other EV expenses have not been reported.
No wonder cars are getting so expensive.
Spoiler alert; The entire Climate Industrial Complex is collapsing.
After Administrator Lee Zeldin of the EPA issues an announcement rescinding the Endangerment Finding of 2009 for CO2, he will put an end to the greatest scientific fraud since the Piltdown Man and cause not only the collapse of the Climate Industrial Complex but also the collapses of many radical environmental NGO’s as foundations end their generous donations to these organizations.
“After Administrator Lee Zeldin of the EPA issues an announcement rescinding the Endangerment Finding”
Still waiting… and waiting…………………………………….. and waiting.
When is this due to happen?
“When is this due to happen?”
here is my theory/opinion. over the past 30 or so years, the global warming hoax has spawned a huge investment industry in both financial and companies created out of whole cloth to take advantage of the hoax.
companies that design, build and install solar and wind and others that finance the hoax.
if the plug is pulled on this much economic activity to quickly it could force an economic downturn.
i think the administration is managing the decline of the hoax. giving the industry time to de-invest from the grift.
what we don’t want to hear is that these companies and financial institutions are to big to fail. which would mean a tax payer bailout. does that ring a bell with anyone?
imho.
thanks for your time.
Yes, and it’s about time, although they’ll be fighting until the bitter end. Another report came out today once again reminding us the the Tonga eruption that increased the stratosphere with huge amounts of water vapor didn’t actually affect surface temperatures, despite significantly cooling the stratosphere, and despite the fact that H2O is the strongest GHG by far, and despite the fact that they’ve been warning us about stratospheric water vapor for ages, and despite the fact that a warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapor, warming thing even more, in a positive feedback loop, and despite the fact that extra cirrus clouds have a particular warming effect, and despite the fact that global temperatures just magically spiked straight up shortly after the eruption…and we know all this because their models said so.
“Another report came out today once again reminding us the the Tonga eruption that increased the stratosphere with huge amounts of water vapor didn’t actually affect surface temperatures ….”
*************
Maybe I’m missing something here, but isn’t water vapor a far more plentiful and potent GHG in the atmosphere than CO2?
I am at a loss to understand how the climate alarmists expect a rise in CO2 in the atmosphere to do all these terrible things to both the Earth’s temperature and severe weather frequency and intensity when all that H2O from the Tonga eruption didn’t do much of anything.
Again, what am I missing? The alarmist camp (for obvious reasons) probably won’t talk about this.
Your guess is as good as anyone’s. Whenever I read those stories, the questions come fast and in number. The only consistency with them (well, two) is that they’ll say whatever supports their narratives, and everything must be made to sound dire. When was the last time you read an article where scientists and lamestream media said, hey, we have great news!
China is the biggest car market, the US isolates itself.
The EV leapfrog – how emerging markets are driving a global EV boom
https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/the-ev-leapfrog-how-emerging-markets-are-driving-a-global-ev-boom
Growth in emerging markets has turbocharged global EV sales in 2025, with over a quarter of new cars sold being electric. New markets are rapidly switching to EVs, joining Europe and China in reaching high shares, and leapfrogging legacy auto markets in the process.
China’s diesel trucks are shifting to electric
https://www.agrinews-pubs.com/news/farm-equipment/2025/12/15/chinas-diesel-trucks-are-shifting-to-electric/
China is replacing its diesel trucks with electric models faster than expected, potentially reshaping global fuel demand and the future of heavy transport.
In 2020, nearly all new trucks in China ran on diesel. By the first half of 2025, battery-powered trucks accounted for 22% of new heavy truck sales, up from 9.2% in the same period in 2024, according to Commercial Vehicle World, a Beijing-based trucking data provider.
The electric transition: Which EU country is buying the most EVs?
https://www.euronews.com/business/2025/11/25/the-electric-transition-which-eu-country-is-buying-the-most-evs
New battery-electric car registrations in the EU jumped by 25.7% in October compared to the same period last year.Battery electric vehicles accounted for 16.4% of newly registered cars in the EU during the first ten months of 2025
The EU is slowly collapsing.
You misspelled US
Inflation rate down again for December.
Food prices dropping, petrol costs dropping except in places like Califoolia
There is still a LOT to do to recover from the O’Bummer, and Otto Pen years.
Actually, weirdly, gas prices have come down a little in Kali – I’m paying $3.99/g for regular, down from $4.19 a few weeks ago.
Actually, weirdly, the more EVs in the market, the lower the demand on gas and so supply/demand says the price comes down. So again, weirdly, people on this forum are hoping for that to reverse. Its a case of being careful what you wish for.
See my post concerning the huge number of unwanted EV’s in China. Note the fundamental distinction between car registrations and sales. The CCP has been fraudulently inflating sales figures.
Not so: the EU is collapsing rapidly.
Sorry, this was directed at Myusernamereloaded.
And all of those short trip electric vehicles are POWERED BY COAL. !
Coal is cheaper to import than oil for making gasoline, plus they have lots of their own.
If true, the only reason would be heavy handed governmental coercion.
“China is replacing its diesel trucks with electric models faster than expected…”
No wonder China is building new coal powered power plants at a breakneck speed in order to power all its EVs. 🙂
In 2023, China produced 4.6 BILLION tonnes of coal from domestic mining operations and imported a further 475 million tonnes. And in 2024, China produced 4.8 BILLION tonnes of coal and imported another 543 million tonnes.
Notwithstanding the world global mining industry will NOT be able to produce the quantity of metals and minerals and at the rate required to satisfy the idiocy of net zero by 2050, China controls the current refined production of these metals and minerals. So Europe or anywhere else believing they can provide energy security and energy independence by going the renewable route is nothing less than sheer unadulterated rubbish.
And, yes, China may be installing “renewable” generation facilities hand-over-fist while, in an extraordinarily well planned exercise, selling metals and minerals to the world as well as “renewable” equipment, it actually doesn’t matter a damn when you consider their coal production and imports, and when they have over 1,150GW of installed coal-fired generation capacity with over a further 300GW under construction and planned.
Looks like you need to join the real world.
You do gt the most sales are hybrids .. most will just run from fuel 95% of the time 🙂
You keep up your optimism because we always like to see slow anguish it’s funnier.
Over the years the demise of the EV market has been predicted and widely advanced only to be thwarted by some new government driven incentive to keep the EV market going.
Those of us who believe in the market, have long argued, government agents are misguided if they believe their financial incentives, basically robbing tax payer Peter to give to Paul is anything other than a temporary fillip. State encouraging a direction of choice that would not otherwise be taken is never sustainable.
We have reached the position where the State can no longer afford this handout. The costs became too big, plus the loss of tax revenue from EV freeloading added to the reality of the folly.
Here in the UK the incompetent Labour administration have too many £black holes (real or imaginary) to continue trying to be the car market makers.
The evangelists of EV, use the UK EV sales growth as a false indicator of where the EV market is going. The UK deploys massive tax incentives to company car leasing deals and car users that biases their car choice in favour of EV but at massive State cost. The result is an induced/false market growth, leaving the government with unsustainable borrowing costs. UK government borrowing just hit a new record high.
I personally like the option of buying what ever suits an individuals needs. Be that in city commuting via EV or off road trail needs powered by ICE which allows full range comfort thanks to the ease of carrying extra fuel if needed.
The ongoing mystery to me is what keeps the TESLA share price going? Currently it is $488 which is double what it was earlier in the year? If anyone can explain this, I would be interested to hear what is going on?
Volvo did a study some years ago, where they estimated that it on average takes approximately eight years of driving to reach ‘carbon neutrality’ from the date of purchase for a BEV.
Let’s face it, surely only a leftist loon would purchase a battery powered car built in China — ‘Build Your Dream’… LOL!!
“Let’s face it, surely only a leftist loon would purchase a battery powered car built in China”
No, there are plenty of right-wing loons buying EVs. It’s not a left/right thing … it’s a stupidity thing !!
Democrats buy more EVs, because they want to show the world they are green and stupid.
The death of the EV imposition is much exaggerated, sadly. Take a look at the cited EU policy change for example. It’s not a reversal, it’s a very small temporary relaxation. No actual real change. At the moment there’s still reliable second hand ICE cars available in the UK. Once they start ageing, it’ll be EV, take it or lump it. Same in most other western countries.
Battery cars died in America decades ago. They ended up buying them all back and sticking them in fields. They should have learned a lesson from that fiasco.
So, will this drive down the price of hybrids? They are the only viable “EV”, put gas in it, make electricity, drive. Massively overpriced plugin toys are not legitimate vehicles, the people have spoken, it is ICE or hybrid. Get the price of hybrids to an actually reasonable level and people will buy them. Otherwise people are only going to buy ICE, gasoline and diesel rule, plugin toys are shyte, even when stolen tax money is thrown in.
Toyota have perfected the best hybrid power train all things considered and the payback is around 3 years over the same ICE car if you’re a city slicker. Not so much for rural dwellers without the benefit of regenerative braking in stop/start city driving. Toyota were bagged by the EV shills for not jumping on the full battery bandwagon but they called it right with demand and profitability and even plant food savings-
Toyota 1:6:90 Rule Explains Why Hybrids are Better For Environment Than Electric Cars
Effectively all this government intervention screwed the industry at every level. Had Obama and Biden Admins just stayed out of it entirely hybrids would not have been tarred with the “EV” brush. Their stupidity drove people away from all electric vehicles. And your point that “EV”s are only useful in a narrow set of circumstances, and governmental interference has impeded the development of electric vehicles outside of that niche market, is spot on. Increased mileage is pointless when the utility of said vehicles is degraded to the point of practical uselessness.
EV’s are failing for the exact same reasons they failed in the 1920’s, range and charge times. But the laws of physics haven’t changed and although there have been improvements, they are not enough to cover the increased requirements of vehicles in our modern world.
Hence hybrids. Put gas in it, produce electricity, drive. I have said from the beginning of this stupidpalloza that if they want me to drive an electric vehicle it will have an engine using gasoline/diesel/propane to drive generator to make electricity. And yet leftards keep screaming against that very thing. Why? Because they want NO vehicles of any type owned by individuals who operate said vehicles as they wish. That is the bottom line.
I wonder why the Rav4 hybrid “highway” MPG is >40? I have two straight ICE Rav4’s and highway MPG is low 30’s.
We own two hybrids: one 2020 Toyota Highlander Hybrid and one 2021 Camry LE Hybrid. We doubled our mpg or more from our gas-powered Highlander and Camry after the US election went south or was stolen in 2020. I get nearly 45 mpg with my Camry most of the year in Delaware except for December, January and February each year when I average around 35 mpg during those colder months. Those averages are for mostly urban/suburban driving with not a high percentage of highway or interstate driving. On long,highway trips the Camry get 50-55 mpg. The Highlander averages 35 mpg most of the year and gets 45 mpg on highway trips. We LOVE these hybrid vehicles. Starting in 2025 and 2026, Dellyware is imposing an addition registration fee on gas-hybrid vehicles and EVs based on weight to try to make up for lost gasoline taxes…
The funny part? “they” haven’t lost any gasoline tax revenue yet, and yet they are adding these fees, sucking up money and being totally unaccountable for where said money is going. All the while putting in place restrictions on citizens holding them accountable for where said money is going. At least that is how it is happening in Blue States and cities. Imagine that.
“Let’s face it, this was always ill-conceived central planning, and it was never going to work.”
True story. I remember 2009 when the financially stressed U.S. auto industry was coerced from Washington to commit to a transition to EV’s. Later that same year came the equally ill-conceived “Endangerment Finding” about CO2, CH4, N2O, etc. It was never really about the “climate” at all, but about central control, in my view.
It aint all beer and skittles for the ICE as carmakers are under the pump from lefties who can’t even spell tradeoff let alone comprehend it-
The REAL REASON Toyota, GM, Honda & Hyundai DON’T want YOU to KNOW!
In early 1900’s electric vehicles advantages over their gasoline and steam counterparts -little to no vibration
-did not smell
-low noise compared with gasoline cars
-manual start not required
-no require gears
-much easier to operate (less maintenance)
-attractive to women
EV disadvantages.
-Gasoline cars could travel longer distances
-heavy lead-acid batteries (limited energy density)
-little to few charging stations e
-fear of being stranded
-electric cars were more expensive
So what has really changed in the last 120 years?
https://documents.dnrec.delaware.gov/Admin/Hearings/2022-R-A-0011/Comments/20230425/Thomas-Waeghe-PhD.pdf
When you put the cart before the horse (mass EV sales in front of an extremely anemic charging infrastructure), and then remove the subsidy/tax incentive – this is what you get. Add that to the fact that all the virtue signaling owners of these environmentally toxic and inconvenient vehicles had no clue what they were actually getting themselves into – and voilà – EV Market Crash ensues.
From my experience, the quickest way to undercover all the shortcomings in anything is to have the government make it mandatory.
I’ve heard anecdotally that mechanics do not like working on EVs.
As an electrician I can say that the scariest thing I work on are batteries. Mainly because they cannot be shut off so they have to be worked on live. Not so scary when 12 or 24 volt but more so on a 600 volt backup inverter supply or the two 4500lb 36 volt lead acid batteries on our 50,000lb coil tractors that use 500 mcm cables ( the conductor is nearly one inch in diameter) to connect to the tractor. I don’t know what the maximum fault current is on those batteries but when shorted it will turn the 500 mcm cable white hot in a split second and vaporized immediately thereafter. Blowing liquid copper everywhere. Scary shit.
Can’t speak for mechanics, but from a firefighter perspective they’re horrible. Not only the fire potential, but extrication is hell. They’re MUCH harder (and more dangerous to us) to get into than regular ICE.
Just close the major interstate highway and sit back at a safe distance and wait for them to burn themselves out-
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/lithium-battery-fire-on-truck-shuts-down-hume-highway-in-nsw-due-to-health-risk/ar-AA1SI8IS
Look on the bright side at least you’re not on a ship in the middle of the ocean with them.
once again Adam smith’s invisible hand rises up to smite the totalitarians once again – slow learners
Learning is not an option.
I’ll get an EV when battery energy capacity becomes comparable to ICE regarding size/weight, range, and price. Make a car where I can pull a drained battery, drop it in a charger, and install the spare.