The U.S. auto industry will die because the auto companies are making cars the government, not the customers, want. From Mish Shedlock at mishtalk.com:
Biden is so wrong, even the liberal Guardian sees it. But it’s full speed ahead with massive subsidies for something counterproductive.
Ronald Stein at the Heartland institute says Unsold Electric Cars May Be Signaling a Death Spiral for the Auto Industry
As the future is fast approaching, virtually all the automobile manufacturers, through government mandates to reduce the emissions of their fleet of vehicles, are going all-in to only manufacture EV’s in the coming years. To meet low emissions for their fleet of vehicles, we’re most likely going to see fewer and fewer hybrids as the auto industry manufacturers need to eliminate the gasoline engines in hybrids to meet those lower emission targets.
The problem is that manufacturers are loading up the “supply chain” with EV’s on dealer lots, but they’re not seeing the “demand” for EV’s coming from the public.
Demand Flop Reasons
- driving range,
- vehicle reliability,
- price,
- the availability of electricity for the buildout of the charging infrastructure,
- charging time,
- the cost and lifespan of batteries and their environmental impact,
- the actual impact EVs will have on reducing carbon emissions,
- the growing statistics about uncontrollable fires of lithium batteries in EV’s,
- problems with battery recycling and end-of-life management,
- concerns that the EV free ride of usage of highways and not paying fuel taxes is about to end with the Vehicle Mileage Tax (VMT), i.e., more costs for the EV owners of the future,
- concerns that home chargers are destined to follow the UK and be on separate meters so that EV charging will be at higher rates to help stabilize the electrical grid, again more costs for the EV owners of the future.
None of the above is new except perhaps that last bullet point. I have written about the above concern list many times, but it is an excellent synopsis.
