via outkick:
The demand from the Biden administration and Gavin Newsom to make every car an EV in the near future suffered another devastating blow on Tuesday.
In October, Ford announced it was pulling the plug on a massive, $12 billion investment in electric car design and production. That came after the company announced massive losses on each EV it builds, thanks to enormous R&D costs and minimal consumer demand.
Then a group of nearly 4,000 car dealerships wrote a letter to Biden asking him to stop his relentless push for more electric cars. Citing low and declining interest in electric vehicles and the costs of retrofitting dealerships to handle charging infrastructure for cars no one wants, the dealers asked the administration to stop proposed changes to force manufacturers into making more of them.
Now one of the largest luxury car brands is also pressing pause on its EV strategy thanks to collapsing interest.
via theohiostar:
The trendy electric vehicle (EV) market could be in trouble as at least 18 EV and battery start-ups that went public in the last few years are running out of funds to operate, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal.
The trouble in the industry follows rising costs and manufacturing issues as the companies fail to compete with top EV maker Tesla and traditional automakers, with the median stock of the 43 companies reviewed dropping 80% from its peak, losing tens of billions in collective value since the companies relatively recent inception, according to the WSJ. Of those 43 EV start-ups reviewed, five have already gone bankrupt or been acquired, including Lordstown Motors, Proterra and Electric Last Mile Solutions.
“It was by far the most insane bubble I have ever seen,” Gavin Baker, chief investment officer at Atreides Management, told the WSJ about the EV investment market.
Investor enthusiasm for electric vehicles is dropping as demand for the vehicles has not exploded as predicted, leaving the new start-ups short on cash and unable to push the needed amount of product to increase cash flow, according to the WSJ. The total share volume of EVs sold in January was 3% of new cars and made up a proportionate 3% of market share, but as of September, volume has increased to 6% while sales have only increased 4%, showing that market desirability is not scaling at the rate of increased manufacturing.
Ranked: Electric Vehicle Sales by Model in 2023 🚗t.co/DU0Ek1rQD1 pic.twitter.com/c1ncz2TFff
— Visual Capitalist (@VisualCap) December 16, 2023