Tag: electric vehicle

Tesla Reports One of Its Worst Quarters in Years in Latest Sign of Trouble for EV Market

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Tesla Factory

Tesla disclosed a shaky earnings report to the public on Tuesday in the latest sign of weakness in the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) market.

The EV maker’s revenue for the first quarter of this year came in nearly 10 percent below its revenue for the first quarter of 2023, marking the largest decline the company has seen since 2012, according to its quarterly report and CNBC. Tesla’s net income also fell by about 55 percent relative to 2023, and the company warned investors that “volume growth rate may be notably lower than the growth rate achieved in 2023.”

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Electric Vehicle Maker Launches Another Round of Layoffs as Demand Slows

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Rivian factory

Electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Rivian announced its second round of layoffs just this year on Wednesday as consumer demand for EVs stalls.

The layoffs at Rivian will affect around 1 percent of the company’s staff as they continue to look for ways to cut costs to bolster struggling profits due to less-than-expected EV sales, the company confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Rivian announced in February that it was laying off 10 percent of its workforce after it released its 2024 production forecast, which was well below analyst expectations, according to Reuters.

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Ford Delays Production of New Electric Truck to Be Manufactured at BlueOval City

Kaitlin Housler

Ford announced Thursday that it is delaying the rollout of two new all-electric vehicle models. Once the facility is operational, one of them will be manufactured at BlueOval City at the Memphis Regional Megasite in West Tennessee.

The company said it plans to begin customer deliveries of its new all-electric pickup truck model made at BlueOval City in 2026 – one year after the original anticipated delivery date.

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Biden Admin Threw Billions at EV Charging Stations, But Only a Handful Have Been Built

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Electric Vehicle charging station

The Biden administration’s well-funded push to build out a national network of electric vehicle (EV) chargers has so far resulted in only a handful of installations, according to The Washington Post.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill of 2021 allotted $7.5 billion to subsidize thousands of EV chargers to help the administration’s goal of having EVs constitute 50 percent of all new cars sold in 2030, but only seven stations in total have been built in four states to date, according to the Post. The slow rollout of the EV charger funding is unfolding as the Biden administration has recently issued stringent emissions standards for light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles that will result in significant increases of EV sales for all three classes of vehicle.

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Biden Admin Finalizes Stringent Tailpipe Emissions Standards

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Mechanic underneath car

The Biden administration unveiled its final tailpipe emissions standards for vehicles Wednesday, effectively requiring about 67 percent of all light-duty vehicles sold after model year 2032 to be electric vehicles (EVs) or hybrids.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) finalized standards rolled back some of the de facto EV production benchmarks for manufacturers proposed initially, but still require automakers to reach the final standards set forth in the agency’s April 2023 proposal. The agency finalized the standards as the American EV market is struggling: demand has not grown as quickly as expected, manufacturers are losing billions on their EV product lines, executives have backed away from near-term production targets and Biden administration subsidy programs to facilitate the creation of a nationwide EV charging network have so far failed to make much of an impact.

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Bentley Pushes Back Ambitious All-Electric Goals

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Driver getting into his Bently

British luxury carmaker Bentley Motors is pushing back its plans to have an all-electric vehicle (EV) offering by 2030, following other top vehicle manufacturers, according to CNBC.

Bentley had originally planned to transition all of its vehicle sales to EVs by 2030 but announced that it would be looking to delay that change by a couple of years, continuing to offer hybrids through that time, CEO Adrian Hallmark said in a media briefing following the company’s fourth quarter results, according to CNBC. General Motors, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and Honda have all backed off of previously made EV goals in the past year as low demand and high costs have stifled the commodity’s profitability compared to traditional vehicles.

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Gov. Brian Kemp Acknowledges ‘Disappointing’ Pause to Rivian Electric Vehicles Plant After $1.5 Billion in Subsidies

Tom Pappert
Brian Kemp

Governor Brian Kemp made public remarks about electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian Automotive announcing plans to pause work on its $5 billion plant in Georgia in a Tuesday press event.

Kemp, whose support for the Rivian deal helped generate $1.5 billion in tax incentives for the company, called the situation “no doubt disappointing” in a press conference.

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Virginia Considers Bill Spending Millions on Build Electric Car Infrastructure in ‘Distressed’ Rural Areas

Tom Pappert
EV Factory

The Virginia General Assembly is considering a bill that would see taxpayers spend millions to help companies build infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) in “distressed” parts of the commonwealth.

HB 107 by Delegate Rip Sullivan Jr. (D-Arlington) passed in the House of Delegates with 71 votes in favor on February 8, and most recently advanced through the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor on February 19.

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Democrats Support Efforts to Unionize More Auto Plants as EVs Are Projected to Cause Job Losses

Just the News

Democrats are supporting the United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union’s efforts to unionize more auto plants as electric vehicles are projected to result in job loss across the industry within the next 10 years.

Democrats in Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which included tax incentives for the purchase of certain electric vehicles as well as funding to expand the EV charging network in the U.S.

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New IRS Guidelines for Electric Car Tax Credit ‘Recipe for Fraud,’ Tax Watchdog Warns

Just the News
EV Charging Station

New Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidelines for the federal electric vehicle (EV) tax credit are a “recipe for fraud,” warns the head of the Tax Foundation.

Consumers will now be able to automatically claim the tax credit at the point of sale on new or used EV purchases, rather than wait to claim it on their tax return, according to the latest Treasury Department guidance.

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Study: Cost of ‘Fueling’ an Electric Vehicle Is Equivalent to $17.33 per Gallon

The Center Square

The complete costs of “fueling” an electric vehicle for 10 years are $17.33 per equivalent gallon of gasoline, a new analysis from the Texas Public Policy Foundation says.

The study authors say the $1.21 cost-per-gallon equivalent of charging a car cited by EV advocates excludes the real costs born by taxpayers for subsidies, utility ratepayers for energy investments, and non-electric vehicle owners for mandate-and-environmental-credit-driven higher vehicle costs, which they say total $48,698 per EV. Those costs must be included when comparing fueling costs of EVs and traditional gas-powered vehicles, TPPF maintains.

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Electric Vehicles Are Costing Auto Manufacturers Billions While Union Strikes Take Their Toll

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by Nick Pope   Electric vehicle (EV) production is costing most American automobile manufacturers billions of dollars, with a range of factors driving their unprofitability as unionized auto workers are striking to demand more from management. Companies like Rivian, Ford and General Motors (GM) are currently losing money on each EV that they sell, while Stellantis appears likely to lose money up front on their EVs when they bring them to market in 2024, according to numerous reports. Rivian has struggled immensely, according to The Wall Street Journal, and the “Big Three” carmakers are facing down the ongoing United Auto Workers (UAW) strike, with the union making demands that threaten to push costs even higher. The UAW is seeking to exact major concessions, with EVs featuring as a key driver of the labor dispute. Prior to the strike, the average UAW worker in Grass Lake, Michigan, made about $45,000 per year, according to data from ZipRecruiter. The UAW is seeking a 36 percent pay bump over the course of a four-year contract, yearly cost-of-living adjustments, restoration of pre-bailout pension benefits for all of its employees, increased protections to ensure job security, limits on the use of temporary workers and a 32-hour work week, according to CBS…

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Gov. Glenn Youngkin Is Working to Ditch His State’s EV Mandate

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Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin appears poised to overturn his state’s electric vehicle (EV) mandate if his party fares well in upcoming statewide elections.

Virginia is one of 17 states that adhere to some or all of California’s vehicle emissions standards, after former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam enacted legislation binding Virginia to California’s standards prior to Youngkin’s election in 2021. Virginia is one of only two states, along with Nevada, that has a Republican governor in office and is also tied to California’s standards, which dictate that all new car sales in Virginia must be EVs starting in 2035.

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U.S. Turns to Country Notorious for Child Labor and Unsafe Mines to Source Its Electric Vehicle Ambitions

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In order to facilitate electric vehicle (EV) production, the U.S. is seeking to spend taxpayer dollars to develop cobalt supply chains from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a country which is known for high prevalence of unsafe child labor in its mines, many of which are controlled by Chinese interests, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of Labor (DOL) are jointly committing $23 million in taxpayer funds to U.S. firms and other mining companies to integrate local Congolese operations and “artisanal” mines into their supply chains, as well as to improve labor standards for miners in the DRC, which are essentially non-existent in most cases, according to the WSJ. Chinese-controlled interests dominate the DRC’s cobalt industry, refining about 75% of the global cobalt supply and manufacturing approximately 70% of the world’s lithium-ion batteries, which are cobalt-intensive products that power EVs.

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Company Behind Michigan Electric Vehicle Battery Plant Registered as Chinese Foreign Organization

Just the News

The company responsible for a controversial electric vehicle battery plant in Michigan is registered under U.S. law as a foreign entity, filings show.

While the energy company Gotion, Inc. is based out of Fremont, Calif., Foreign Agents Registration Act documents filed by the corporation earlier this year show that it “is wholly owned and controlled” by Gotion High-Tech, which is based out of Hefei, a city in eastern China.

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Major Union Slams Biden over Electric Vehicle Goals

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United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain criticized President Joe Biden on Tuesday for pushing electric vehicle goals that UAW believes do not result in great enough compensation for workers, according to The Washington Post.

Fain is still withholding an endorsement for the president by UAW after criticizing Biden for low wages at the new Ultium Cells plant, General Motors’ electric vehicle battery project that is jointly owned with LG Energy Solutions, according to the Post. UAW is currently in negotiations with top automakers Ford, GM and Stellantis over a possible strike for the 150,000 U.S. hourly workers represented by the union.

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Georgia Supreme Court Declines to Hear Appeal of Rivian Project’s Bond Agreement

The Center Square

Georgia’s Supreme Court has denied a request to hear an appeal challenging the bond agreement state officials used to lure a controversial electric vehicle manufacturing project to the state.

At issue is a deal the Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Joint Development Authority of Jasper, Morgan, Newton and Walton struck to give $1.5 billion in incentives to electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian Automotive. The company is building a $5 billion plant in Morgan and Newton counties.

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Report: New England’s Embrace of Electric Vehicles, Infrastructure

The Center Square

by Brent Addleman   Five of six New England states have earned praise through a new report examining electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. Massachusetts led the way in the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy’s report “2023 State Transportation Electrification Scorecard,” just edging out Vermont in the newest rankings. “We are seeing incremental progress, not transformational progress,” Peter Huether, senior research analyst and lead author of the report, said in a statement. “States will have to move far more aggressively to do their part to enable the electric vehicle transition that the climate crisis demands. Auto manufacturers are expanding their EV options and consumers are increasingly choosing them, but supportive state policies are needed to ensure that the electric grid is ready and that all households and businesses, including those in underserved communities, can use EVs and have adequate access to charging.” The Bay State, fourth in the nation, scored 57.5 out of a total of 100 possible points in the report. Vermont came in fifth with 57 points, while Maine came in 11th with 43.5 points. Connecticut earned a score of 42.5 and Rhode Island came in 19th with 29.5 points. New Hampshire did not register a score in…

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Michigan Woman Leads Effort to Recall Officials Who Approved EV Battery Factory with China Ties

Just the News

A Michigan woman is leading an effort to try to oust elected officials in her township for allowing the maker of electric vehicle batteries with ties to China to open a plant in her township.

The headquarters for battery maker Gotion Inc. is in California, but its parent company, Gotion High-tech, is based in China, which is raising concern about its connections to the Chinese Communist Party and national security.

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Biden Admin Gives Ford, Foreign Company Whopping $9 Billion Loan for EV Plants

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Thursday announced a conditional loan of up to $9.2 billion to a joint electric vehicle venture between Ford and Korean battery maker SK On.

When combined with state subsidies offered to the joint venture, known as BlueOval SK, the record-breaking loan means that taxpayers will be financing nearly the entire $11.4 billion investment by Ford and SK, according to Blomberg. The loan is the latest in a series of increasingly large offers from the DOE’s Loan Program Office (LPO), which had its lending authority surge to $400 billion — more than 10 times the $33 billion it has issued since 2009 —following the passage of President Joe Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act.

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Kemp Says $4.3 Billion EV Battery Plant in Georgia Touted by Ossoff Was ‘Previously Announced’

The Center Square

LG Energy Solution and Hyundai Motor Group plan to jointly build a $4.3 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia, an investment U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, said was possible because of incentives included in the Inflation Reduction Act.

However, a spokesman for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp disputed that assertion saying it’s part of a previously announced investment that predates the federal legislation.

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Hundreds Protest Chinese-Owned Electric Vehicle Battery Plant in Michigan

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Hundreds of people protested against a Chinese-owned electric vehicle battery plant being constructed in northern Michigan due to concerns about national security.

“How many abuses have we seen over the years from China? And to think that they will set up a battery factory in our state and they will just play by the rules? That makes no sense whatsoever,” Michigan Republican Chair Kristina Karamo said at the protest Saturday, NewsNation reported.

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EPA Proposes New Standards to Require Two-Thirds of New Car Sales by 2032 Be EVs

Just the News

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced what is being considered its strongest-ever proposed pollution standards for gas-powered vehicles – which if enacted would effectively mandate that 67 percent of new passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2032 must be zero-emission ones.

The rule has been expected for weeks and is a dramatic, proposed increase from President Biden’s stated goal of 50 percent zero-emission passenger car sales – including battery-powered electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles – by 2030. It would also likely and dramatically increase EV sales, which accounted for just 5.6 percent of new car sales in the U.S. last year, according to Road & Track.com.

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Ohio Economists Split on Progressiveness of EV Fees

The Center Square
Electric car being charged

A group of Ohio economists disagree over moves by the state and the country as a whole toward electric vehicles and whether government investment in electric vehicle infrastructure is cost-effective.

Nearly half of the 19 economists at Ohio colleges and universities surveyed by Scioto Analysis said the state’s current $200 annual fee for registering electric vehicles is progressive, while a little more than half believed spending tax dollars on EV infrastructure is likely to be more cost-effective than providing the same amount in tax credits.

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Chattanooga Group Will Spend $9.2M on Electric Vehicle Charging Pilot Program

The Center Square

Chattanooga is planning to spend $9.2 million, including $4.5 million from a federal grant, to create what it calls a testbed for electric vehicle charging.

The remaining $4.7 million will be paid for by a combination of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, the city of Chattanooga, private industry and the EPB energy company.

The pilot program is intended to create a “networked system that will enable electric vehicle drivers to more readily locate charging stations.”

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Georgia’s US Senators Vote for Bill Stripping One of State’s Largest Employers of EV Tax Credits

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Georgia’s two senators voted for the Democrats’ recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act, even though it strips South Korean automaker Kia — one of the state’s largest employers — of eligibility for the law’s electric vehicle tax credits.

Kia, which employs thousands in Georgia, is planning to build another automobile factory in the state and hire 8,500 people, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Due to domestic assembly requirements in the new law, however, the automaker’s EV and plug-in fleet will lose their current eligibility for $7,500 tax credits on the purchase of new electric vehicles.

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In Georgia Governor’s Race, Perdue Hits Kemp for $1.5 Billion to Soros-Linked Company

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A scandal is brewing in Georgia’s Republican gubernatorial primary, with candidate and former Sen. David Perdue accusing incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp of engaging in shady backroom deals and lining the pockets of liberal megadonor George Soros as part of a massive new economic development project in the Peach State.

“This may be the worst deal I’ve seen in my business career, honestly,” Perdue told the “Just the News, Not Noise” television program on Friday. “This was just done the wrong way. And I’ve called the governor out on that, and we’ve had no response.”

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Ford Reports Devastating Losses Thanks to Electric Vehicle Gamble

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Major U.S. automaker Ford blamed its sizable investment in electric vehicle (EV) company Rivian for its dramatic revenue decline in the first quarter of 2022.

Ford reported revenue of $34.5 billion between January and March, a 5% decline relative to the same period in 2021, and a net loss of $3.1 billion, according to the company’s earnings report released Wednesday. The Detroit automaker said its large investment in Rivian accounted for $5.4 billion in losses during the first quarter.

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As Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Wants to Spend $60 Million on Electric Vehicles, Study Shows Recycling and Storing Their Batteries Will Be a ‘Huge Issue’

The Center Square

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wants to spend $60 million on electric vehicles (EV), including electrifying the state’s fleet. However, the production of EVs is beset by a supply chain riddled with shortages in addition to environmental concerns.

Whitmer’s proposed 2023 budget aims to spend $50 million to subsidize new EV sales or a $500 rebate for at-home charging equipment for new or used EVs. Another $10 million would start converting Michigan’s roughly 13,637-vehicle fleet to EV.

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Study: Recycling and Storing EV Batteries Will Be a ‘Huge Issue’

The Center Square

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wants to spend $60 million on electric vehicles (EV), including electrifying the state’s fleet. However, the production of EVs is beset by a supply chain riddled with shortages in addition to environmental concerns.

Whitmer’s proposed 2023 budget aims to spend $50 million to subsidize new EV sales or a $500 rebate for at-home charging equipment for new or used EVs. Another $10 million would start converting Michigan’s roughly 13,637-vehicle fleet to EV.

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Tennessee Government Officials Want Funding for More Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

Chris Butler

Officials with the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation are scheduled to unveil a plan Wednesday to develop and fund more charging networks across the state to power electric vehicles. The Tennessee Star on Tuesday asked officials with both agencies if enough Tennessee residents are driving electric vehicles to justify investing public resources into this infrastructure.

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Tennessee Board Approves $35M Grant to Retrain GM’s Spring Hill Employees as Part of $2B Deal to Produce Electric Cadillac Vehicles

Jason M. Reynolds

A state board on Tuesday approved a $35 million jobs training grant to encourage General Motors to retain workers at its Spring Hill plant as the company looks to invest approximately $2 billion to produce electric vehicles, including the Cadillac LYRIQ.

The State Funding Board approved the FastTrack Job Training Assistance Grant. More information is available here.

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