Auto manufacturers who bought into the hype are looking at a catastrophic financial miscalculation, and typical car drivers have gone from being curious (at best) to being generally negative about purchasing EVs. I believe that the conservative media’s pushback against EVs has had a considerable impact.
In other words, 2023 was a very good year – a year in which we turned opinion against electric vehicles. The people who want a boutique, status-symbol EV can continue to buy Teslas. (But can we please kill off the taxpayer subsidies for Tesla?) For all the rest, let 2024 be the year when legacy automakers throw in the towel on the eco-communist EV experiment.
For today, let’s do our periodic update on the EV Follies…
“Ford cutting 2024 F-150 Lightning production plans by half, suppliers told; The news comes amid an industry wide pullback in EV investment due to slower-than-expected sales growth.” [Automotive News – 12/11/2023]
Although I’ve enjoyed writing about how emphatically consumers have rejected Ford’s flagship EV, in fairness I should point out that the Ford F150
Conflagration Lightning is a spectacularly awful vehicle. Aside from its tendency to burst into flames, it performs poorly at towing, hauling for distance, and operating in the cold – the basic functionalities that are expected of a pickup truck.
The buried lede in this story isn’t that Ford is cutting weekly production of its electric pickup from 3,200 units per week to 1,600 units per week, rather it’s that Ford’s executives still think there is a market that will absorb 1,600 of these abominations per week.
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An electric vehicle enthusiast at Motor Trend magazine learned just how awful the EV experience can be when he and his wife had to jump in their Ford F150 Lightning and race 600 miles for a family emergency. 600 miles is at best a 10-hour drive for me in my gasoline-powered car, including gas and restroom stops. This unfortunate couple could not reach their destination in one day.
“Our Last Ford F-150 Lightning EV Pickup Road Trip Was a Nightmare” [Motor Trend – 12/22/2023]
The author of this piece points out that although Ford touts a range of 320 miles for the Lightning, it had only twice exceeded 200 miles on a charge.
It’s not just Ford that can’t sell its EVs. Half of Buick dealers would rather surrender their franchises than have to sell General Motors’ atrocious EV offerings.
“GM buys out nearly half of its Buick dealers across the country, who opt to not sell EVs” [Detroit Free Press – 12/20/2023]
GM’s awful executives, with little understanding of automobiles or their customers’ preferences, think they can simply dictate what consumers should buy. GM dealers, who actually understand automobiles and what their customers want, know better.
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General Motors is rolling out an electric version of its popular Chevrolet Blazer sport utility. Well, it’s trying to, but not very successfully.
“2024 Chevy Blazer EV sales are already halted over software issues” [Elektrek – 12/26/2023]
Dozens of potential customers will have to keep waiting.
