We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy Roadkill 28 Comments

They ran out of stupid rich people faster than forecast.

A new study is claiming that automakers lose an average of $6,000 for every $50,000 electric vehicle they sell. Boston Consulting Group, an American-based global management consulting firm that issued the report, said the figure accounts for customer tax credits — painting a rather bleak picture for the future of EVs.

However, this was attributed largely to the fact that automakers had spent so much upfront developing electrification. Assuming production continues and the public ends up buying them in meaningful numbers, EV profitability should improve over time. Of course, we’ve been hearing that for well over a decade at this point.

While segment growth has improved, it’s not happening at the pace industry leaders expected. Five years ago, automakers assumed electric vehicles would reach parity with combustion vehicles by roughly 2025. But none of the major markets are on pace to hit those targets.

28 Replies to “We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars”

  1. I would consider buying a very inexpensive tiny electric car with NO bells and whistles to run around my neighborhood. But what the automakers want to sell is something that looks more like a full size vehicle and replace my SUV. I think they have completely missed the mark.

      1. Just returned from Costa Rica….and that is EXACTLY what they are using…..golfcarts. And let’s not forget the Costa Rica is roughly 10 degrees North.

    2. inexpensive tiny electric car with a 100-mile range.

      We tested driving
      the Chinese model, saving lots of money. It’s not very pretty and too small, but every driver in the family can push it.

    3. So for a design spec:
      Provincial legislating allowing street legal mini evs
      2 seater
      200km range at 60km/hr in the winter, 5 year guarantee
      ~1 cubic meter grocery cargo space
      replaceable battery pack
      forget street legal golf cart, make it a golf course legal street car
      off grid charging
      separate fire proof parking
      not legal for major roads, secondary streets only
      lighting to road car standards including braking, headlights, etc. included in range
      legal for 50 km away from residence
      max cost $10,000 no subsidies allowed
      annual road tax
      why not sell in kit form and allow innovation to flourish
      This will kill the present EV markets but I am willing to bet that a genius like Henry Ford would take up the challenge and make it work

  2. The key problem is here.

    “Five years ago, automakers assumed electric vehicles would reach parity with combustion vehicles by roughly 2025.”

    This was never possible. The existing grid cannot support an EV load greater than about 5% replacement of existing vehicle traffic. Since the existing electrical grid cannot be increased to support this projected EV volume, it won’t happen. It should be noted that the article by Posky does NOT address the problems of EV fuel supply. This has nothing to do with the nature or frills of the EV itself. If there’s no electricity for it, it simply sits and rusts in the driveway.

    Moreover, about 1/3rd of North American residents who own cars live in apartments. These do not have EV charging capacity, nor will they any time soon for a host of economic and infrastructure reasons. Hence, no EVs.

    By avoiding discussing either of these problems, Posky avoids discussing the real problems with EVs.

    1. precisely precisely.
      think of the immense time cost and complexity of sizing up the grid.
      esp considering the increase must accommodate the exa amps necessary to power all that AI on the horizon, similar to what happened and is happening with crypto mining.
      personally l would be delighted to have some dinky little 2 or 3 seater EXCLUSIVELY for errands in town, shyt, an optional trailer when needed. etc etc. but out on the 401? 100s kilometers nuthin but farmland?
      the promotion and ‘selling’ (pun intended) of the present concept and direction is TOTALLY OFF.
      furthermore if, IF the promotion had gone THIS way, l suspect we would see umpteen models and thousands of them zipping hither and thither, iow, a LARGE adoption of the new mode. but, pffft, just *something else* the politishuns screwed up right from the start having FAILED to look at things from multiple angles before ‘picking one’

      and one more rock called ‘the authorities are inept’ in the ‘duffle bag’ we have to get onto ‘the peak of everest’

      alas, being in the state of ‘detailing’ my place for sale its more than one person l told about the gasoline pickup truck one of my first purchases after.

      1. Oddly, it was a politician who first pointed this out: Bob Chiarelli when he was Ontario Minister of Public Infrastructure in 2010. While he may have been a member of Dalton McGuinty’s cabinet, Chiarelli was no fool. He knew that electrical infrastructure was an obstacle for EVs which could not be overcome. Unlike McGuinty’s agents designing the Green Energy Act – Butts and Telford – Chiarelli was NOT innumerate. He was willing to admit, sotto voce, that the GEA replacing nuclear with wind power was utter folly.

  4. Electric vehicles make more sense in warm climates, not Canada. Not only does battery range fall in cold temperatures, EVs have to have use battery power to warm the cabin, whereas in IC vehicles, the interior is warmed by the heat from the motor.

    1. But not too warm either.
      Running the AC in a hot climate degrades range just as much as heat required in sub-zero temps.
      Let the fools subscribe to their EV fantasies, while overspending on transportation.

    2. They don’t make sense anywhere. The electrical grid is unable to support any significant proportion of the new load when converting IC to EV. There is no redundant capacity anywhere in any transmission or distribution system for any of this.

      1. And… they are replacing reliable base load with whirligigs and hail catchers and no one nowhere no how is running the needed transmission lines for all the new chargers that will be needed and upgrades to older home wiring.

        And that’s on purpose.

        You get an EV, and you get an EV, and you get an EV, and EVERYBODY gets an EV!… or else. And the remaining electricity, when available, will power our new overlord’s EVs while we roam around on foot in our 15-minute cities. That’s because there’s no infrastructure even in the planning stages for all of the proles’ EVs.

        Did I mention that it’s on purpose?

    1. That’s the elephant in the room everyone is ignoring.
      I have generally bought and drove end-of-life vehicles, meaning you buy it cheap, patch the major problems and drive it until it needs a repair costing more than the usable life is worth to me.
      Anyone who has cordless tools knows that the batteries generally don’t just quit, they loose charge faster. The batteries in EVs are no different. You may get 350 mile range when new, but at 100k miles, will it still get that 350? In effect, it’s like the gas tank gets a little smaller every time you fill it… at 125k, it will only hold a gallon or two and probably leaks.
      Now, I’ve had many cars that the gas tanks have rusted and leaked, for $250 you can get a new tank, pump, lines, install in an afternoon. Now, if the new gas tank is going to cost $20,000-60,000! That car is nothing but junk.

      1. I buy less troublesome cars at end of lease. I actually favor BMW Certified Pre-owned as I have been able to put 100’s of thousands of miles on these vehicles with only the routine parts that fail … nothing major. But I wouldn’t buy a used ev if you marked it down to rent-a-wreck valuations.

  6. “A new study is claiming that automakers lose an average of $6,000 for every $50,000 electric vehicle they sell.”

    Where do we insert “on paper”?

  7. Remember when Ivermectin won a Nobel Prize and had decades of data showing its safety and effectiveness, and then the FDA called it a “horse drug” during Covid b/c its Big Pharma vax sponsors told it to?

    Well a Federal court just ruled the FDA broke the law & needs to delete its propaganda

    The truth about the Covid cartel keeps coming out.

    I hope the FDA gets sued by all

  9. Most cars on the road are leased anyway, a whopping 66% in Canada, maybe 20% or more in the US. Who would buy a 4-yr. old EV coming off-lease?

    If the government wants to get cars off the road, just ban leasing “for the environment” (sarc on). Most Canadian car dealerships would fold, as so many people can not afford to actually BUY a car with warming seats, let alone buy a status seeking virtue-statement like an EV.

    Smart tow-truck companies will avoid EVs like the plague. They will not even go to EV firetruck calls.

    Also stratas/HOAs, increasingly purchased vs. single homes, are starting to bring in rules about no EV cars/bikes for the obvious reasons of excessive electrical use and possible fire hazards to neighbours.

    1. “Most cars on the road are leased anyway, a whopping 66% in Canada …”

      Holy Mackerel, that seems REALLY high.

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