Perhaps Government Motors has finally realized that most people really do not want an EV at this time for various reasons?
GM Backtracks on Joe Biden’s Green Energy Agenda After Investing Billions
After investing billions to adhere to President Joe Biden’s green energy agenda, General Motors (GM) is backtracking on all fronts when it comes to Electric Vehicles (EVs).
As GM was the last of the Big Three to strike a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers (UAW), the automaker’s green energy dreams — championed by the Biden administration — have come crumbling down.
GM CEO Mary Barra, a close ally of Biden’s, has said the automaker will not begin to attempt to produce 400,000 EVs from 2022 through mid-2024 as initially planned. GM is also delaying retooling its plant in Orion Township, Michigan, to build EV pickup trucks.
Days ago, GM had to begin offering owners of its Chevy Bolt about $1,400 to install a diagnostic program to determine if the vehicle’s EV battery is defective. The move came after GM had to recall all of its Chevy Bolts due to the EV battery issues and a class action settlement over the battery problems is anticipated in the near future.
In addition, GM executives are having to delay launching a number of their EV models such as the Chevrolet Equinox EV, the Chevrolet Silverado EV RST, and the GMC Sierra EV Denali.
I’ve said before that an EV would work for me 90% of the time. I mostly travel around town, occasionally heading down to the beach, Smithfied (go to the wonderful factory outlets), maybe Mebane for the same. Sometimes the Outer Banks or up to NJ. Perhaps the NC mountains. It’s on those times it creates a problem. Plus, since I don’t have a garage I worry about some little punk unplugging if I’m charging from home. Also, the price. None have a similar price point for my Civic Hatchback EXL.
“The American public is not ready for the broad adoption of electric vehicles. There are maybe 10 percent to 12 percent of people who really want an electric vehicle … the remainder still want internal combustion,” former GM executive Bob Lutz said this week.
Few ask about them except as conversation. I talk with sales reps from numerous different dealerships, and their customers are not interested. Hybrids? Yes, acceptance is way up. EVs? Nope. That 10-12% is a bit high. The highline dealers, who’s manufacturers went all in, are seeing their sales of new tanking. Those who wanted EVs got them, and the rest aren’t interested, and will go elsewhere to get a non-EV. And those still looking will mostly get Teslas, because many of the others are, per customers, total trash. The market is making clear what it wants to happen.
Teach talks with people who tell him what he wants to hear.
In the 3rd quarter of 2033 300000 EVs were sold in the USA, about 50% were Teslas.
2023 total sales will be around 1.2 million.
Yes infrastructure to support EVs is lacking, it must be built up. British Petroleum, BP. Just signed a 100 million dollar contract to buy Tesla Superchargers to install at their gas stations.
Each year EVs get cheaper. Each year EVs get better batteries with longer range. Acceptance Will continue to build, but at certain tipping points, just like with cellular phones/smartphones, sales will jump dramatically. Old people/poor people will be the last to hold onto their beepers/ICE powered cars.
Our distinguished host wrote:
To which Mr H responded:
Mr H is apparently a mind-reader, to know Mr Teach’s thoughts and the people with whom he converses!
So, just whom is “talk(ing) with people who tell him what he wants to hear”? When the top executives at General Motors are telling the world that the market isn’t that for which they had hoped when it comes to EVs, the people responsible for actually making a profit for their shareholders, yet Mr H tells us that everything is peaches but the cream in the EV market, it would seem to me that it’s Mr H who isn’t listening widely.
Johnny for the win..”Teach talks to people who tell him what he wants to hear”. The main theme of the article comes from the thoughts of 2 GM executives, one being the CEO.
H
“Each year EVs get cheaper. Each year EVs get better batteries with longer range.”
Let me know when they match ICE’s on price and range.
Then, let me know when…
There are as many charging stations as they are places to purchase fuel…. and a coke and a candy bar… and a chicken breast..
And the charging time is the same as filling up my ICE vehicle.
And the grid has grown so it can provide the necessary power for the “millions” of EV’s.
Our distinguished host wrote what I’ve been saying all along:
90% of the time, which means the other 10% would require commercial charging along the route, an hour-long stop in who knows where, in what kind of weather, and with how much delay if the chargers were full when he got there.
Our last vacation was to Ocracoke Island — and, as it happens, I’m wearing an Ocracoke vacation t-shirt as I type — and that trip was about 600 miles. Elaine’s 2021 Toyota Camry gets, according to the last reading I saw, 34.9 MPG, and that meant a stop for fuel each way to Ocracoke. Of course, you can find a gas station almost anywhere, and the stops to fuel were about ten minutes, not an hour. If Elaine’s car were a plug-in electric, we’d have taken my 2010 F-150, which gets about half the mileage her car does!
And of an elite like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is worried that a non-Tesla plug in won’t make it from Brooklyn to DC on a single charge, what would a plebeian like our esteemed host require going back to Jersey?
Our Carolina car salesman is a working-class guy. Yeah, his condo is nice enough, but it doesn’t have a secure garage in which to charge a Chevy Dolt, though he does have an off-street driveway in which to park. How many times have I mentioned that as a real problem for a lot of people?
The price? Let’s face it: plug-in electric vehicles might make good second cars, for people who have the money and driveway/garage space to have second cars.
My main vehicle is a 2022 4runner. My secondary car is a 2003 4runner. I am obviously rich beyond the needs of mere mortals.
H only reads articles that he wants to agree with.
In the third quarter of 2023 (not 2033) 3.8 million cars were sold in the United states. Fewer than 300,000 were EV’s. That’s less than 10% of total sales.
Just two days back, a regular AT contributor noted that the Big Three automakers were diminishing E.V. output because, according to The Wall Street Journal, coupled with a “need” to make rechargeable cars more profitable, there is a “slowing demand” for consumers.
Texas Public Policy Foundation analysis put together by “energy experts” Jason Isaac and Brent Bennett, which revealed that the actual cost of rechargeable cars and the E.V. industry is, in reality, much higher than they’re leading us to believe.
According to the TPPF report … the average model year 2021 EV would cost approximately $48,698 more to own over a 10-year period without the staggering $22 billion in taxpayer-funded handouts that the government provides to electric car manufacturers and owners. The analysis factors in federal fuel efficiency programs, electric grid strain, and direct state and federal subsidies.
Ideas or products that do not bring enough of a benefit, to enough of a population, for a cheap enough cost… are meant to die and will. But, thanks to government, and particularly a socialist Democrat government, stupidity and failure are virtues, and it pays to be a leech. Socialism sucks.
EV’s suck. If they didn’t you would buy one. So that not only makes you a hypocrite but a liar too. But we’ve grown used to that.
As a mentor told me years ago: “The market will speak.” Sorry, H, the market is saying that EV’s are a niche product and not ready for prime time. If you like them, buy yourself one, don’t preach that the rest of us should buy an EV.
I don’t own an EV and don’t plan on buying one next year when my current ride gets replaced. Yes, the Tesla is a very nice vehicle and if it were practical for our use, we would own one now. It isn’t practical for our use and we don’t own one. We do have equity investments in 3 EV companies and Ford. Only Ford is making money and paying a dividend. The industry doesn’t separate ‘cars’ from light trucks as distinctly as some folks seem to think, the term passenger vehicles is more appropriate. As LGB pointed out, the industry sold 3.8 million passenger vehicles in Q3 of 2023, with most being Sport Utilities, Crossovers, and Pickups with EV’s being less than 10%. The EV market ain’t growing no matter what Brandon wants.
Back in the day of the 55 mph speed limit I used to say that advocates should be required to drive across Texas, in the summer, in a VW Beetle. I’ve modified it somewhat for EV advocates. Now they should drive across northern Montana in the winter.
You don’t need to go that far if you’re east of the Mississippi. Go to Duluth,Mn in late Dec or Jan and drive to Madison, Wi or Grand Forks, ND. in your EV. Done it, but in a full size, equiped suv.
GM, Ford, Toyota, and Honda have all announced they are dialing back on EVs because the market just isn’t there, despite what “H” has written. Dealer lots are full of EVs they can’t sell. The used EV market is dead.
1.2 million in projected sales in the US versus 154.4 million total car/truck sales for 2023? That’s 7% of all sales. I’m guessing that will be the peak sales for EVs and they’re going to slide downwards because those who want (and can afford) EVs have already bought them.
GM, Toyota, and Honda are shifting their focus to fuel cell vehicles and away from battery EVs. Makes sense for a number of reasons, one of them being that FCVs require only a fraction of the minerals required for EVs, specifically the EV batteries.
I just bought a new (gently used) car. ICE. Toyota 4Runner. My last 4Runner lasted 20 years and is still doing fine. The only suprise I had was the jump in insurance. Specifically, the uninsured motorist coverage jumped. The insurance agent said it is because of all the uninsured motorist claims they are getting. Thanks, Biden.
DCE makes an excellent point. What do you do when you have a used EV and there’s no market to sell it? Let’s face it nobody wants a car with a dead battery.
Not just no secondary market for the vehicle. No secondary market for the parts either, so junk yards don’t want them. They are an eco-hazard waiting to happen and a potential liability for anyone who takes them with a cleanup/disposal bill that has not yet been calculated.
Not to mention that independent repair shops are practically non-existent and the few that exist are in CA. Don’t think that situation is going to change very soon.
Methinks there may be some ‘orphan’ vehicles in the EV market’s future. I own an orphan motorcycle, not for the faint of heart or unskilled.
[…] good friend and occasional blog pinch hitter William Teach of The Pirate’s Cove noted on Wednesday that General Motors is cutting back significantly on its commitment to produce the plug-in electric […]
[…] good friend and occasional blog pinch hitter William Teach of The Pirate’s Cove noted on Wednesday that General Motors is cutting back significantly on its commitment to produce the plug-in electric […]