AP: US electric vehicle sales to hit record this year, but still lag behind China and Germany (way behind)

[OKIsItJustMe]

US electric vehicle sales to hit record this year, but still lag behind China and Germany

BY ALEXA ST. JOHN
Updated 7:54 AM EST, November 23, 2023

Electric vehicle sales are expected to hit a record 9% of all passenger vehicles in the U.S. this year, according to Atlas Public Policy. That will be up from 7.3% of new car sales in 2022.

It will be the first time more than 1 million EVs are sold in the U.S. in one calendar year, probably reaching between 1.3 million and 1.4 million cars, the research firm predicts.

Although the numbers show significant progress for electrification, the nation is lagging behind countries like China, Germany and Norway.

EVs reached 33% of sales in China, 35% in Germany, and 90% in Norway for the first six months of 2023, according to a BloombergNEF EV outlook published in June. These figures include both battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid EVs.

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[Fiendish Thingy]

1. Gee, there is a big push by the media to claim big automakers are retreating from EV production

They wouldn’t lie to us, would they?

[madville]

2. In the US they are to some extent

They over promised and then didn’t deliver on many things. A major problem is they’re still focused on high dollar trucks and SUVs, they want to sell their $80,000-$120,000 trims and are introducing those first before the cheaper base models. But with the exception of Tesla, the rest are losing money on each EV they sell. Ford lost an average of $62,000 on each EV they sold in the 3rd quarter this year. That isn’t sustainable.

GM is delaying production of several of their models because they’ll actually be saving money by NOT selling at a loss at this time. The Bolt was selling good but it was losing $9,000 on each one sold so GM ended production to replace it with the Equinox. But they over promised the entry-level Equinox at $30,000 and have already had to raise it to $35,000 and haven’t even delivered one yet. They’ll be losing money on it too.

They’re in a pickle. They’ve committed to their EV strategy but it is costing them billions in loses. If they sold them at their true cost, they’d sell very few because most would be over $100,000.

[madville]

3. Add in some high interest rates and low gas prices

And $60,000-$100,000 rapidly becomes less attractive. Plus they still only fit a niche portion of the population, the ones that can afford an expensive vehicle, have a home to place a level 2 charger, and are interested in EV technology. They don’t make sense for people that can’t charge at home at residential electric rates since public Level 3 charging now more expensive than gas.