The market for electric vehicles isn’t as robust as climate cultists and their media minions would have Americans believe.
A few weeks ago, I reported that car dealerships across the country were begging Biden to use his pen-and-phone to rescind the mandate to end unrealistic EV mandates that have sprung up in blue states.
In another article, I noted Congress budgeted $7.5 billion to build tens of thousands of electric vehicle chargers across the country, and none had yet been built. Since then, one tax-payer funded EV charging station was built. In London, Ohio, and apparently, no one is using it.
There are even more signs that the American public is pushing back against this net-zero nonsense.
General Motors is relearning an important lesson in capitalism: Smart businesses don’t sell things customers aren’t buying.
General Motors bought out roughly half of Buick dealers across the U.S. due to their reluctance to sell electric vehicles as the automaker looks to transition to EVs.About half of GM’s 2,000 Buick dealers accepted the voluntary buyout. The program remains open so additional dealers may opt to take the buyout instead of making the EV-related investments that GM required for them to continue selling Buicks, as GM is planning for the brand’s vehicles to be 100% electric by 2030.
Ford Motor Company is also having the same issue.
Since it announced the Model e Certified program last year, Ford has dealt with its fair share of backlash related to this new EV sales program, which Ford dealers were given the chance to either opt in or out of. Facing a number of legal challenges and trust issues pertaining to its implementation, the automaker has made some changes to the Model e Certified program based on dealer feedback, which satisfied some of those concerns, though others remain.Following these changes, some Ford dealers chose to opt out of the program after initially opting in. Now, the automaker has revealed that around half of all Ford dealers have chosen to forego the EV sales program altogether, at least for 2024, according to the Detroit Free Press.According to FoMoCo, around 1,550 Ford dealers in the U.S. – around half – have chosen to opt out of the EV sales program in the coming year, compared to the 1,920 dealers that opted in roughly one year ago.
Perhaps the dealers see the regulatory handwriting that is on the wall. In January, new rules kick in that end monetary incentives for EVs purchases based on how much foreign content is in their batteries.
It’s gotten so we need a digital assistant to keep up with all that’s happening in the world of electric cars here at the end of 2023. New Treasury Department regulations go into effect on January 1, 2024 that tighten the rules for battery materials and components. As a result, several electric cars that are eligible for federal incentives today won’t be eligible once the ball drops at midnight in Times Square a few days from now.“Treasury proposed strict rules disqualifying all EVs with certain foreign battery content including low-value components, which effectively means most EVs will not be eligible beginning on January 1. After reviewing Treasury’s long-awaited proposed guidance, we believe the Cadillac LYRIQ and Chevrolet Blazer EV will temporarily lose eligibility for the clean vehicle credit on Jan. 1, 2024 because of two minor components,” GM spokesperson Liz Winter said in a statement that was reported by the Detroit News.“While we await final rules, GM has pulled ahead sourcing plans for qualifying components in early 2024 and will advocate for our dealers and customers who purchase vehicles built ahead of the new guidance.”
Now, you can believe the dealerships who daily interact with potential car buyers . . . or you can trust what Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has to say about the “fluctuations” in EV sales.
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