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It’s time once again gentle readers for your electric vehicle update.  Recent news reveals reality continuing to catch up to EV/green pipe dreams.  Reporting the news the American media avoids is The Daily Mail:

Automakers Honda and General Motors have ditched a $5 billion plan to create more affordable electric vehicles amidst an industry-wide slowdown in EV development. 

The manufacturers agreed in April 2022 that they would combine powers to slash the battery costs on eco cars and develop vehicles below GM’s $30,000 Chevrolet Equinox. The partnership was intended to compete with Elon Musk‘s Tesla which has aggressively cut prices this year.

But today Honda CEO Toshiro Mibe confirmed the project had been cancelled, citing cost and logistical challenges.

Translation: There is no such thing as a “more affordable electric vehicle.”  The current average EV MSRP is $67,000.

The relationship between car manufacturers and their dealers is a delicate balancing act.  Everyone wants everyone else to be happy and profitable, so no one really wants to rock the boat.  As I’ve previously noted, my local Wyoming Ford dealer doesn’t stock EVs.  There is just no consumer interest, which isn’t surprising in a part of the country that has serious winter.  But now, dealers are not only rocking the EV boat, they’re sinking it:

A coalition of nearly 4,000 auto dealers on Tuesday sent a letter to President Joe Biden explaining why his plans to force Americans into electric vehicles are unworkable.

The bottom line: Despite subsidies to car manufacturers to make the EVs, and tax credits for drivers to buy the cars, only 7% of new vehicle sales are electric vehicles, compared with Biden’s goal of 60% in 2030 and 66% in 2032.

It’s not helping.

The auto dealers wrote that ‘the supply of unsold [battery electric vehicles] is surging, as they are not selling nearly as fast as they are arriving at our dealerships—even with deep price cuts, manufacturer incentives, and generous government incentives.’

Translation:  We can’t give the damned things away.  No matter which
incentive” tricks you try, EVs are just too expensive for most people, and they don’t want them because of all the other issues EVs have.  Americans are a lot smarter than you.

Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler, who postponed $12 billion in EV investments, said, ‘Given the dynamic EV environment, we are being judicious about our production and adjusting future capacity to better match market demand.’ Similarly, GM described ‘evolving EV demand’ as a reason for slowing production of electric pickup trucks.

Translation: “Evolving EV demand” as in “it’s evolving there is no demand for EVs.”   Ford alone has admitted losing more than $3 billion on EVs in 2023 alone.  I suspect they’ve lost much more than that.

Ford and GM describe EV demand as ‘dynamic’ and ‘evolving,’ but in reality, it is static and devolving.

Auto dealers are getting stuck with the unwanted cars. Dealers have to pay in advance, and if the cars sit on the lots without being sold, their funds are tied up, and they don’t have room for better-selling vehicles.

The dealers were very polite:

The dealers conclude their letter: ‘Mr. President, it is time to tap the brakes on the unrealistic government electric vehicle mandate. Allow time for the battery technology to advance. Allow time to make [battery electric vehicles] more affordable. Allow time to develop domestic sources for the minerals to make batteries.’

The dealers know the Mummified Meat Puppet Administration will never allow the mining and drilling necessary to restore American energy independence, to say nothing of the mining necessary to provide the rare earths necessary for EV battery production.  They also know the technology isn’t going to “advance” any time soon, and those two factors combined mean there are not going to be any such things as financially competitive EVs.  They also know Biden’s handlers aren’t going to listen to them any more than they listen to Normal Americans.

Another way reality is asserting itself is in EV repair costs.  Regular readers know they’ve always been obscenely high.  The difference is with Biden’s approval numbers at historic lows, the d/S/C media is finally beginning to report the truth:

A Tesla owner said he was ‘flabbergasted’ when he and his partner were hit with a hefty bill to fix their electric vehicle.

Johnny Bacigalupo and Rob Hussey told the Scottish news outlet Edinburgh Live they were billed £17,374, or about $21,000, to fix their Tesla after its battery was damaged by rain last week.

Damaged by rain?!  The sad truth is any significant exposure to water, and particularly salt water, destroys EV batteries, often when they burst into flames.

‘I honestly can’t believe that this has happened. When I first got the call, I thought we would get a bill for £500 or £1,000,’ Bacigalupo told Edinburgh Live. ‘When they said over 17 grand — it’s absolutely obscene. My heart missed a beat, honestly.’

Elon Musk said in 2019 that it could cost $5,000 to $7,000 to replace a Tesla battery, but J.D. Power reported the figures were different in 2023. Recurrent, which reports on EV battery health, said battery replacement could cost anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000.

Nonsense.  EV battery replacements run about 1/3 the MSRP, which means around $22,000.  They’re part of the vehicle structure.  It’s not like swapping batteries in a flashlight.

A similar incident occurred last year when a Canadian Tesla owner was told it would cost $26,000 to get a replacement battery for his vehicle, Fox Business reported.

See what I mean?  EVs also cost much more to insure, and lightly damaged EVs often have to be entirely written off.  Repair costs aren’t the only issue.  EVs really, really aren’t cheaper than internal combustion engine—ICE—vehicles:

They really have no idea from where electricity comes…

(The Center Square) – The complete costs of ‘fueling’ an electric vehicle for 10 years are $17.33 per equivalent gallon of gasoline, a new analysis from the Texas Public Policy Foundation says.

The study authors say the $1.21 cost-per-gallon equivalent of charging a car cited by EV advocates excludes the real costs born by taxpayers for subsidies, utility ratepayers for energy investments, and non-electric vehicle owners for mandate-and-environmental-credit-driven higher vehicle costs, which they say total $48,698 per EV. Those costs must be included when comparing fueling costs of EVs and traditional gas-powered vehicles, TPPF maintains.

Golly.  I wonder why those kinds of facts are hard to come by?

The study also assumes EVs will be driven for 10 years and 120,000 miles, which the authors claim is a generous estimate. According to J.D. Power, EVs lose 2.3% of their range each year due to battery degradation, in part driving EVs to lose value faster than internal combustion cars.

It’s “generous” indeed.  Most people don’t keep vehicles nearly that long, and because EVs don’t have the range for long trips, they’ll certainly put on fewer miles.  If they could pack on that number of miles, they’d be replacing batteries much more often.  The more often they’re charged, the faster they lost capacity.

With Ford losing an estimated $70,000 per EV and subsidies reaching $50,000 per EV, Isaac says the real cost of a vehicle such as a Ford Lightning is over $150,000, and those costs are carried by everyone, including non-EV owners and even Americans without cars.

‘The real cost of a Ford Lightning is closer to $172,00 and no one would buy them at that. I know their sales have tanked. The [electric] Silverado sold 18 electric trucks last quarter,’ Isaac said. ‘Buying a car is more expensive today and people don’t understand why that is. I’m trying to help them understand if they buy a gas or diesel car they’re paying for an electric vehicle for a wealthy EV owner.’

Oh.  That’s why the media hasn’t been reporting on these issues until they’ve begun to have no choice.

We won’t be seeing these anymore…

Regular readers also know electric bus maker Proterra, which received mega Biden bucks in subsidies, went bankrupt.  That’s a time-tested d/S/C tactic: pour billions into green companies, they go bankrupt, all that taxpayer money disappears.  Electric buses just aren’t ready for prime time, but even so, d/S/C-run parts of the country still want to use them:

The Boulder Valley School District says it wants to replace its diesel school buses with more environmentally friendly green buses.

However, the district is going to buy five new diesel school buses because the electric and propane-powered buses won’t hold up on the more demanding routes.

The district is set to approve the purchase of five new diesel passenger school buses for $714,876. The district is expected to approve the new school buses at its Oct. 24 meeting.

Just another EV bus feature…

The district said the new diesel buses are needed because, ‘diesel school buses are essential for mountain routes due to their robust performance in challenging terrains. These routes often have steep inclines, variable weather conditions, and remote locations, making diesel buses a practical choice.’

There’s that nasty reality intruding on utopian green idealism again.  Believe it or not, reality has even made its way to Connecticut(?!):

Democrat Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont is withdrawing his plan to mandate future electric vehicle (EV) purchases after the proposal received bipartisan pushback from lawmakers on a key legislative panel.

Lamont ultimately pulled the proposal just four months after unveiling it and characterizing it as ‘decisive action to meet our climate pollution reduction targets.’ In July, Lamont unveiled the proposal, tethering Connecticut’s emissions standards to those set in California, which mandates that every passenger vehicle sold is electric by 2035, the most aggressive target of its kind nationwide.

‘Common sense has prevailed,’ Connecticut Senate Republican Leader Kevin Kelly said in a statement. ‘The Governor’s decision to withdraw the regulations is a reasoned approach to address the growing concerns raised by working and middle-class families. Adopting California emission standards which ban the sale of gas-powered cars is a substantial policy shift which must be decided by the General Assembly.’

How tragic.  Connecticut residents will have to struggle along with affordable, reliable vehicles.  The horror.

Final Thoughts:

Just how big is the potential EV market?  EV ownership means installing as powerful a charger as possible in one’s home, an investment that can easily cost more than $11,000 dollars, and that’s if the electric infrastructure in one’s neighborhood and home will support it without significant upgrades for which no power provider will pay. That’s absolutely necessary, as base level chargers–standard wall current–take days to charge an EV. But wait: it’s worse.

Circa 2023, 34% of Americans rent their homes.  They’re not going to be installing EV charging hardware in a home they don’t own.  But how many Americans live in apartments?  In 2019, that number was about 36% of the population, and current, accurate figures are hard to find.  Apartment dwellers tend to be younger and lower income, but even so, the average two bedroom apartment is now going for around $1,300 a month!  Single bedroom apartments are not much less.  Circa 2023, the average apartment dweller makes around $46,000 a year.  Unless their apartments provide chargers, and a means to bill for the electricity, which is to say the least, uncommon…but let’s stop there.

Reality check:  No one making $46K can afford an EV.  And even if they could, unless their apartment came with a garage (damned few do), if they live in a state with actual winter, their EV is going to be non-functional much of the year.  No manufacturer can afford to build vehicles 36%–actually, much more–of the public can’t buy, and another significant portion of the public won’t buy.  It’s not going to matter how much government mandates them.

See what I mean about reality?