A funny thing happened on the way to electric vehicles becoming all the new rage: It turns out that EVs are not becoming all the new rage. Not even close. That fact appears to be very difficult for CNN — the quasi-official Democrat media — to grasp, as evidenced by a Monday article by a senior CNN Business writer.
Peter Valdes-Dapena twisted himself into an oxymoronic pretzel with mutually exclusive arguments:
First, EV manufacturers are slashing prices and cutting back on production. Second, the American market for EVs is not collapsing. Check it out:
Tesla has been slashing prices. Ford just cut the price of its Mustang Mach-E, too, plus it cut back production of its electric pickup. And General Motors is thinking about bringing back plug-in hybrids, possibly taking a step back from GM’s earlier commitment to shifting straight to pure EVs.
And now the EPA is considering slowing down requirements for automakers to sell more electric vehicles, dialing back what had been aggressive plans to move away from gas-powered cars and SUVs.
To be clear: The American market for EVs is not collapsing. In the last quarter of 2023, EV sales were up 40% from the same quarter a year before, according to Cox Automotive. In fact, EV sales in the United States hit a record last year, topping 1 million for the first time.
But the EV market has nevertheless become a major disappointment. There is a troubling gap between expectations and reality.
Confused? So was I.
Valdes-Dapena continued to argue himself into a corner by quoting Tyson Jominy, an industry analyst with J.D. Power, referring to Kia EV9 and Cadillac Lyriq electric vehicles:
Between $50,000 and $60,000 now we get Kia and we get Cadillac. Those two don’t normally face each other.
Look, I'm a car guy — I get it. Although my tastes run more along the German car line, Jominy was right. What (ill-informed) American who thinks "Cadillac" is a status symbol is going to buy a "lowly" Kia? (Kias are fine vehicles, BTW.)
Valdes-Dapena continued to argue with himself:
Besides being too expensive for the average buyer, selection is limited in terms of body style, said Corey Cantor, an industry analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The vast majority are relatively expensive SUVs, and there are few sedans or compact cars for customers who want something different.
OK, I think we've got it: The EV market isn't collapsing but... it's... not doing all that great?
Then there’s the continued lack of public charging. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, part of the US Department of Energy, estimates that the US will need 182,000 fast chargers for electric vehicles by 2030. There are currently fewer than 40,000, according to the DOE, with about a quarter of those in California.
Besides raw numbers, the EV chargers that are currently available tend to rate low with consumers in terms of reliability, according to J.D.. Power surveys.
Well, damn.
While Valdes-Dapena argued that automakers are "finally taking major steps" to steady the EV market, he admitted there's still a long way to go, by quoting Carlos Tavares, chief executive of Stellantis, which makes Jeep and Dodge EV vehicles.
It means when you go to the mall, when you go to the supermarket, when you go to the restaurant, when you go to gym, when you park your car, you have charging units waiting for you. You don’t have to look for them.
Yet, Valdes-Dapena also admitted that the number of EV chargers in the country is nowhere near that level.
I think, in the next couple of years, we’re going to start to see exponential growth of charging, and hopefully, with that, comes reliability, because that’s the other big aspect of it.
No you-know-what.
The Bottom Line
Again, as a car guy, I have no particular aversion to EVs — other than I won't be pressured into buying one.
While Democrats continue to work themselves into near-apoplectic seizures about pretend anthropogenic "climate change" as the "existential threat to mankind" to their silly hearts' content, I'll drive the vehicle of my choice for as long as I'm capable of doing so.
Related:
Biden Quietly Scraps Key Climate Policy After Realizing How Insane It Really Is
The Democrats' Retreat From the EV Push Has Some Important Lessons About Them You Shouldn't Miss
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