The hoped for electric car revolution looks like it will turn out to be a revolution in fantasy only. Despite the Biden administration’s earlier promised to ban gasoline cars—mainstream media claims this is not true, but the punitive fuel economy standards
would be impossible for gasoline cars to meet—even current Democrat candidate Kamala Harris has been forced to say that she will not ban internal combustion engines.
When all-electric vehicles like Elon Musk’s Tesla started to sell in higher numbers over the past 10 years, there was an initial wave of enthusiasm and sales. But the cars’ limited range between charges, poor performance in cold climates, and the lack of charging stations anywhere near the number of gas stations has put a damper on electric car sales. Or not, depending on which media outlet is writing a story, and what their angle is.
Just recently, car executives almost sounded like they were bragging about how they couldn’t wait to retire their internal combustion assembly lines. Makoto Uchida, head of Nissan, for example, claimed his company would be selling only electric cars in Europe by 2030.
But that was then, and this is now. And competition from cheap Chinese electric cars may be having an effect on larger automakers. The ra-ra enthusiasm for all-electric cars seems to be fizzling. The Stellantis group (its most famous brand is Chrysler) said it would sink more than $50 billion into EV development over the next ten years, but it’s unclear whether that is still the case. The company’s CEO, Carlos Tavares, even cautioned that there could be an automotive “bloodbath” if companies tried to compete with cheap Chinese versions.
It looks like hybrids—cars that have both gasoline and battery powered motors—may be better sellers in the foreseeable future. While Hynundai set a record with sales of its Ioniq 5 in August, the most popular version of that model was the hybrid. Sales of the hybrid version were up more than 80 percent while the all-electric version had sales growth of only 27 percent.
American powerhouse Ford is another company scaling back its rhetoric and plans. Like Stellantis, Ford promised that all European car sales would be electric by 2030. Not now. The company’s electric version of the F150 pickup has disappointed customers for its lack of power and range, and CEO Jim Farley said makers can only offer affordable electric cars if the batteries are affordable to make, and right now, they’re pretty costly.
