It’s been a miserable month for electric cars. Tesla fired everybody in its charger department, Ford told us that it is losing $100,000 on every electric vehicle it sells, and Donald Trump announced he will stop the construction of new wind generators off the East Coast because he wants to save the whales.
If you bought Tesla stock at $600 a share it appears you have a long wait to get even. Hybrids are selling like hotcakes, but Elon’s Cybertruck can’t catch cold. Ford’s F-150 electric is nice for Los Angeles and San Diego but not Duluth.
President Biden told us electric cars would dominate the market by 2030, but I don’t think he has ordered a rechargeable limo yet.
What happened to the EV world?
Tesla captured the recharge market thanks to its novelty, Elon Musk’s flamboyance, and huge government gifts for each car, paid for by the gas and diesel makers. Tesla invested tremendous capital on chargers strictly for its own cars but still could not completely build out a network that would eliminate the fear of running out of juice before reaching a charger that hasn’t yet broken down.
The enormous run-up of Tesla stock gave Musk capital to use for expansion, and Europe and China became huge EV markets to dominate.
The Ukraine war, Russia losing some pipelines, and eager European customers pushed up world fossil fuel prices.
China has granted enormous advantages to its own EV industry, which is now competing with Tesla at the low end of the market and headed for America if Trump-like tariffs do not cripple it before it gets going.
On the truck side, Rivian built a lovely-looking vehicle in the old Mitsubishi plant in Southern Illinois with guaranteed orders from Amazon, but it’s now losing $43,000 per truck. The latest rumor is that Apple will invest heavily in Rivian after blowing $10 billion trying to build its own viable car. The thought is that Rivian’s truck would use Apple’s AI technology to develop a robotic vehicle.
Google probably leads the way in robotic taxis with its huge investment in Waymo, but they are moving slowly, primarily using Volvos and Jaguars as their software carriers.
Elon Musk boldly announced that Tesla would soon dominate driverless vehicles. It is potentially an enormous market. But GM and Google now have a good understanding of how long it takes to make money in that domain. Musk has lawsuits stemming from the nutty people who tried going 120 mph without hands on the wheel.
We are all finding out in 2024 how difficult it is to make money with electric cars and robotic technology. The investment it requires is huge, and the market has limits.
Human-driven hybrids, which Toyota envisioned as a smart approach before 2035, are winning on the market.
Elon Musk has had better luck with spaceships and satellites lately. Charging has its cost.
Question: Do you like or dislike your EV and why?
11 Comments
No chance of me buying one, and I have the money, but why waste it.
Depends on the mission and the vision. If the mission does not support an EV, then there are usually hybrid options. If there is no vision…, well that’s another conversation.
When the government makes the decision, and not the consumer, it is always a disaster.
I see the electric vehicles like a Porsche 911 GT3 Turbo RS. You can drive it a little here and there for enjoyment, but you can’t rely on it for anything important.
I’m sticking with my F150 for a daily driver I can count on to go anywhere I want, haul almost anything I need to, and provide some comfort while doing it. I can’t imagine a trip to Ohio or Iowa with a vehicle I have to hunt for charging only to find them all broken, all while loaded up with someone’s 500-pound die on a nice cold January day.
That is, until the government starts messing with the gasoline supply…
I have a Tesla S Plaid that is my daily driver. I can put it on AP for my 40 minute drive to work. Because of the idiots who gamed the system it now monitors your eyes and the steering wheel while you are driving. It nags you if aren’t paying attention. For a daily driver there isn’t a better car. Hatchback turns it into a mini SUV. Acceleration is beyond belief.
250 mi range 390 per the EPA (You lose 40% if you only charge to 80% and recharge at 20%.
Other brands are fine but there currently isn’t a reliable fast charging network.
I would recommend having a gas car for a backup. If you can only have one car get a hybred or a gas car. Elon probably wouldn’t make for a good traditional PMPA member. He would have us printing moondust into spaceships to the planet ludicrous. Resale value is poor like most luxury cars. I would buy another today.
Musk has lawsuits stemming from the nutty people who tried going 120 mph without hands on the wheel. The electric vehicle must not be able to run this fast! AI must limit the speed as well. If the last figure on the speedometer is above 200, it is not an advantage of the vehicle. It is a harmful side effect of the efforts to reach high acceleration and high fuel efficiency at the same time. The electric drives can provide both acceleration and efficiency being free of this side effect. The power source of the vehicle may be anything, but the drive system must be electric.
Well the Cybertruck has to be the ugliest vehicle known to man, but the Rivian is pretty attractive. Not sure what the deal is, but for now I will be looking at hybrids only!
Electric cars are not for everyone. And they won’t be for a long time. I do not have one, but most in my immediate family do. I feel a bit guilty driving me 20+ year old pick-up around on errands – maybe 150 miles in a week, but not (yet) guilty enough to add another car, electric or not. Can I add a joke? There was a bank robbery in Palo Alto, CA. The robbers got away in a white Tesla. After pulling over 150 white Teslas in the first 90 minutes, the Police gave up.
The cyber truck is clearly a failed piece of bling. It would be very shortsighted to view the rest of the EV offering or potential through the same lens.
In central Phoenix I see about one driverless Waymo every ten minutes, tooling around the busy streets – rush hour, night, day, left turns, around obstacles. Two days ago a driverless Waymo taxi picked up a friend from my house for a trip to the airport. It worked flawlessly, and cost $16 for the 9 mile trip. It is the greatest thrill to see an empty car driving on the streets with the normal flow of traffic.
I have been observing this for about 5-8 years or so. Initially, there were two people sitting in the front, looking at a computer. Then after about a year later it was one person. Then eventually it was zero people – totally driverless! Initially those driverless cars were timid, and stayed on the quite, residential streets. Gradually, they moved to the busy main streets and became more assertive. Now they are just… normal. It’s great to see.
Hello Dave,
My son in law Scott worked for Google and now Wayno in Mountain View, California. He works on AI projects and has been keeping me up to date on Waymo’s progress. The taxis are running in the Phoenix area an San Francisco. Progress has been steady. GM was competing in San Fran until they ran into setbacks. Waymo and Google work slow and steady and have hopes to keep the lead despite Elon’s grandiosity. The longterm belief is that taxis will replace private cars but this is still a longterm dream.