This trend has always been wild to me. The USA feels like a solid home of automaking since the inception of the ICE. They don't necessarily make the best cars but they have the infrastructure, knowledge & experience, and culture to innovate and drive the industry forward.
The next big generational change in car design matures to commercial viability - the electric motor for cars - and the USA turns it into a bogeyman? Why? This is the next big economic win to take advantage of and the US has the factory and industrial workforce and infrastructure to nail it. Companies vying to be the Ford of the electric era. Instead it gets warped into some political litmus test for communities and people start 'rolling coal' to prove a point.
Does it feel good for impoverished industrial communities in the States to see China and BYD leading the way on something they could be doing?
There's still time to get back on track but it's running out. China will be pushing viable affordable models in the next few years for first time buyers, the secondhand market is maturing, lease electric cars are competitive in Europe, charge points are not hard to find, gas is only getting more expensive, and most governments have ICE phase out deadlines in place.
Throw in: Unwilling or unable to build out the charger network. No power for EV’s as it’s going to crypto and ai. And to aluminum smelting. And to heating the northern states. And to cooling the southern ones. And losing the energy from wind, solar and geothermal. Maybe nuclear as I don’t know where the guy stands on that.
I like the idea of vehicles with an electric drivetrain, but I mostly drive a pickup truck and do truck things with it (tow things long distances).
Something like the "new" Ramcharger (2026?) is perfect for me. It is a plug-in hybrid with an electric drivetrain, with a V6 generator for adding range.
Build more vehicles like that please. Ideally something with Toyota's reliability.
EVs are having their own little dotcom bust right now. You can't say the companies didn't try. Every automaker came out with a near identical EV that was too expensive. And some even made some pretty bold steps to stop ICE production on some models.
EVs are still inevitable in the not too distant future so long as batteries keep improving, but the jump is not going to happen overnight.
Looking at the CEO's source he is talking about the PR release from GM about adding capacity for straight up ICE vehicles. Why the hell aren't they investing in hybrids?
People could see this coming a mile away. The automakers, whom currently produce the vast majority of vehicles, are tired of financing their competition (Tesla), who for years now has sucked all the air out of the room in the auto industry, despite accounting for a small fraction of vehicle sales overall. The carbon credits are solely responsible for creating Tesla. They created an unfair environment where we have an industry propping up a company that should have never been propped up to begin with. Had it not been for those credits, Tesla would never be able to compete on its own and would have gone bankrupt a long time ago.
Electric vehicles have a dubious environmental impact, require special and costly new infrastructure, are inferior economically and do not align with US policy goals around energy.
Look at every business who has tried to adopt Tesla vehicles and you will see only failure followed by trying to unload the vehicles for a huge loss. Tesla cannot or will not produce a decent work truck, and are grossly disconnected with the needs of the average American (self driving, robots and other such bric-a-brac need not apply).
For those that want to purchase these vehicles, they should remain an option, albeit a minor one. The technology (still quite inferior) needs to stand on its own, not be propped up by the public, the vast majority of us do not want an electric vehicle and will never want one.
Many communities in Florida love electric golf carts. If the right vehicles are available at the right price with the right capabilities people buy them.
Because chargers were enshitificated before they were widely deployed. I want to arrive on charger, connect the charging hose, wave a debit/credit card or my phone with NFC interface and start charging.
But noooo, you need to have an account with your debit card linked to it and use their half assed application or you won't be able to activate charger. And you should better pray that charger in your destination is actually operational and your car is compatible with the charger, which itself is fucking wild.
The whole EV industry essentially ignored lesson learnt for last 100 years using ICE cars - gas pumps, with somebody who can assist you if you don't know do exist for a reason!
Rivian CEO should go outside and try what is the average charging experience for an average customer.
In AU, they already have public charging networks (Evie, for example) that allow you to pre register your VIN and just roll up, plug in and it starts charging.
And also a simple fact, that current EVs are simply bad products from a UX perspective.
Getting a new car has felt like a step up in quality of life, but not so with EVs. You get an overall worse experience.
A part from already mentioned issues like, charging infrastructure, range and charge times there are everyday things of living with a car.
Removing stocks and buttons for essentials controls like drive select, turn signals, door locks and opening the glove box.
Inability to fix small issues like replacing a light bulb or fixing a lock. Aging software that becomes unsupported by manufacturer a few years in. But is much more essential to car operation, than before.
And low resale value that makes these very expensive to buy vehicles, essentially single use appliances with planned obsoletion embedded.
Living with EVs is tougher than ICE cars. And until that at least equalizes, what regular consumer would want that?
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[ 6.1 ms ] story [ 64.2 ms ] threadThe next big generational change in car design matures to commercial viability - the electric motor for cars - and the USA turns it into a bogeyman? Why? This is the next big economic win to take advantage of and the US has the factory and industrial workforce and infrastructure to nail it. Companies vying to be the Ford of the electric era. Instead it gets warped into some political litmus test for communities and people start 'rolling coal' to prove a point.
Does it feel good for impoverished industrial communities in the States to see China and BYD leading the way on something they could be doing?
There's still time to get back on track but it's running out. China will be pushing viable affordable models in the next few years for first time buyers, the secondhand market is maturing, lease electric cars are competitive in Europe, charge points are not hard to find, gas is only getting more expensive, and most governments have ICE phase out deadlines in place.
1. US is the largest oil producer country in the world
2. US knows it has lost the EV race
3. ICE employees have an outsized impact on elections due to where they live
This is profound and hard to believe --- because it is just plain dumb. China loves it. It is total capitulation to their economic agenda.
25% of US GDP is derived from global trade. Turning your back on this will lower the standard of living for Americans in general by raising prices.
Next up in this regression --- a default on US debt.
Something like the "new" Ramcharger (2026?) is perfect for me. It is a plug-in hybrid with an electric drivetrain, with a V6 generator for adding range.
Build more vehicles like that please. Ideally something with Toyota's reliability.
EVs are still inevitable in the not too distant future so long as batteries keep improving, but the jump is not going to happen overnight.
Electric vehicles have a dubious environmental impact, require special and costly new infrastructure, are inferior economically and do not align with US policy goals around energy.
Look at every business who has tried to adopt Tesla vehicles and you will see only failure followed by trying to unload the vehicles for a huge loss. Tesla cannot or will not produce a decent work truck, and are grossly disconnected with the needs of the average American (self driving, robots and other such bric-a-brac need not apply).
For those that want to purchase these vehicles, they should remain an option, albeit a minor one. The technology (still quite inferior) needs to stand on its own, not be propped up by the public, the vast majority of us do not want an electric vehicle and will never want one.
But noooo, you need to have an account with your debit card linked to it and use their half assed application or you won't be able to activate charger. And you should better pray that charger in your destination is actually operational and your car is compatible with the charger, which itself is fucking wild.
The whole EV industry essentially ignored lesson learnt for last 100 years using ICE cars - gas pumps, with somebody who can assist you if you don't know do exist for a reason!
Rivian CEO should go outside and try what is the average charging experience for an average customer.
Getting a new car has felt like a step up in quality of life, but not so with EVs. You get an overall worse experience.
A part from already mentioned issues like, charging infrastructure, range and charge times there are everyday things of living with a car.
Removing stocks and buttons for essentials controls like drive select, turn signals, door locks and opening the glove box.
Inability to fix small issues like replacing a light bulb or fixing a lock. Aging software that becomes unsupported by manufacturer a few years in. But is much more essential to car operation, than before.
And low resale value that makes these very expensive to buy vehicles, essentially single use appliances with planned obsoletion embedded.
Living with EVs is tougher than ICE cars. And until that at least equalizes, what regular consumer would want that?