Government mandates and subsidies caused the auto industry to revive a drive-train concept that seemed to have died well over a century ago; however, multiple reports and studies have found that Americans, while they showed interest at first, are not beating down the doors to buy all-electric cars.
According to Road and Track Magazine, General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, Volvo and others committed to entirely wiping out their gas-powered cars by 2035.
Tesla seemed to rise overnight to become one of the world’s largest automakers; meanwhile, Hertz auto rental company spent millions on commercials with football great Tom Brady to promote its EV fleet.
Ford really went out on a limb releasing the Mustang Mach-E, which despite pumping out 480 horsepower with 600 lb-ft of torque, became quite possibly the canary in the coal mine as sales tanked after initially surging.
It didn’t help that, in its zeal not to be left behind, Ford rushed the vehicle to production as they have in the past and the recalls followed. Consumer Reports eventually dropped the Mustang Mach-E from its list of recommended EVs.
Then came the news reports as the extended-range batteries on multiple brands suffered from overheating and became fire hazards. News videos showed firefighters gamely attempting, with little success, to try to put out lithium battery fires.
Even with the subsidies, the prices of EVs remain high at a time when the prices of all consumer goods keep rising, which keeps EVs out of the price range of most middle class consumers.
However, what is likely the biggest factor in the failure of EVs to crack the mainstream, is the issue of range anxiety.
Auto manufacturers have not been forthcoming about the range of their vehicles. The car makers routinely state that the average EV gets around 250 miles per charge, but they fail to mention that range figure only applies if the car is driven with none of the modern car features operating simultaneously.
Kids of the 1980s might remember the early Sony Walkman tape players that would give you several hours worth of music on one battery set if the volume was set low. If the user liked to pump up the volume or use the rewind and fast forward features, the battery life was cut in half.
The same applies to EVs. If a user hops in the car and plugs in a cell phone, turns on the headlights, heater, seat warmers and radio, the car is not going to travel much further than the 1914 Detroit Electric Car.
General Motors had announced its intent to build 100,000 EVs in the second half of this year and another 400,000 by the first six months of 2024, but they have walked that back, citing low first quarter 2023 sales.
Not only that, but Chevy had announced the end of the Bolt, which has been more-or-less the same vehicle since its launch in 2016. It was expected that Chevy would announce a replacement soon, but the company changed course again in July and decided to merely update the Bolt again.
Both Mercedes and Tesla have discounted their vehicles, which allows for further subsidies; however, these companies cannot continue to sell vehicles at a cut rate because the cost of producing the vehicles has not gone down over the years.
In fact, the opposite has happened.
According to Mining Technology magazine, the world’s largest lithium mining company is the Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd, which is based out of China. The Chinese Communist government has made no secret about its goals to eventually own the lithium and cobalt markets, which makes automakers even more squeamish about putting all of their eggs in the EV basket.
China, which has long been trying to break into the American market, could eventually use its dominance in EV raw materials as a leverage of sorts to bring its Buick knock-offs to domestic dealerships even though those Chinese brands suffer from the worst safety ratings in the industry, according to Wheel magazine.
Perhaps the sudden waning of EVs was inevitable because EVs were the brainchild of politicians and not auto-enthusiasts. In other words, consumers never indicated they were clamoring for a non-emission automobile. Even in the dark days of the 1970s oil embargoes, virtually no one was demanding electric vehicles.
According to CNBC, Hertz has announced that it plans to actually scale back its EV fleet, which means that even Tom Brady is having a tough time selling the concept. It seems reasonable that if people are not renting EVs to, if nothing else, just try them out, then they likely are not going to plop down $70,000 to buy one.
So, while the EV is not dead or even close to that, gas-powered engines are aspirating just fine and likely will not be phased out by 2035.
See you on the road!
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
