Ford hits the brakes on $12 billion in EV spending in KY

[nvabill]

Ding ding ding.

Just look at the questions we answer for people who don’t own a BEV.

“How much range does it get?”

“How long does it take to charge?”

“What did it cost?”


Never once has anyone who never owned a BEV asked me “how reliable is the charging infrastructure?”

Even if they did ask me, my answer would be the same “never used it, never plan to, this is a great around town vehicle.”

Next month I’m driving 4 hours away to a 2 day work meeting. Carpooling with 3 other co-workers.

Zero percent chance I could convince the other 3 to take my car.

Zero.

That should tell you everything you need to know about long trips in a BEV and what people prefer.

I would love to hear anyone try to give me an argument to convince any of them otherwise. ?

Bingo!

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[Guss-E 2021]

but dealers having to fix these none stop

There are still plenty of ICE recalls and repairs happening too. Those are "non-stop" as well.

 

[nvabill]

And, ironically, those folks who never take road trips are most likely the same folks who have the least access to home charging.

What are you basing this on, sounds like you just plucked it out of thin air, care to share your source?

 

[Mirak]

The bigger problem EV enthusiasts keep overlooking is that there are some really serious limitations with current battery tech. Current batteries are too heavy, too expensive, and too slow to charge for mainstream adoption. This results in $50,000+ vehicles that take 30+ minutes to recharge on the highway to get around 200-250 miles of range depending on the weather.

That just doesn’t fit most folks’ needs or desires. The industry and government are trying to force a product that isn’t ready yet.

And I should add, this is not a matter of incremental improvement. These issues aren’t gonna 10-20% better with each new model year. We’ve basically maxed out what we can squeeze from current battery tech. We need another jump, like the jump from NiMH to Li-ion over 10 years ago.

Quoting myself just to close the loop on the point I was trying to make. This is why Ford is backing away from battery production. Why would Ford invest 10-20 billion dollars into factories to build batteries that are not going to be good enough for most people?

Ford would be better off buying batteries to build a niche product, and wait for the battery tech to mature.

 

[Mirak]

What are you basing this on, sounds like you just plucked it out of thin air, care to share your source?

I got that from wikicommonsense.com. And here is what it said: city dwellers are less likely to take road trips than non-city dwellers. City dwellers are less likely to own garages than non-city dwellers. Ergo, people who are less likely take road trips are less likely to have access to home charging.

Of course this is a generalization. But generalizations are still useful.

 

[Mach1E]

I got that from wikicommonsense.com. And here is what it said: city dwellers are less likely to take road trips than non-city dwellers. City dwellers are less likely to own garages than non-city dwellers. Ergo, people who are less likely take road trips are less likely to have access to home charging.

Of course this is a generalization. But generalizations are still useful.

Also makes some sense that renters would have less $$ for vacations. But they also have less $$ for expensive new cars.

 

[Ghost Ryder]

I don’t know of anyone who believes there won’t be consequences.

You underestimate the avg person. Remember that a significant percentage of the population Can’t balance a check book.

 

[Ghost Ryder]

~5+% auto loan interest rates and now having to wait for "2025+ year models" for the nacs plugs integrated I think is having a large effect as well on folks rethinking a current EV.

As to the UAW deal impact on prices, as a long time Ford shareholder, I can guarantee they don't have to pass along all that extra cost to the consumer, but they will

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/26/business/ford-uaw-contract.html

They don’t pay dividends out of the goodness of their heart. They depend on investment. If all of a sudden their dividends go down or below that expected, investors will invest elsewhere. what do you think this will do to the company? It’s all a balancing act.
the question really should be how Competitive is ford‘s pay package compared to the industry?

 

[LincolnLuvr]

Volvo and Kia as well.

Just read that VW too.

 

[CompilerBreak]

They don’t pay dividends out of the goodness of their heart. They depend on investment. If all of a sudden their dividends go down or below that expected, investors will invest elsewhere. what do you think this will do to the company? It’s all a balancing act.
the question really should be how Competitive is ford‘s pay package compared to the industry?

Ford and Boeing and plenty of other companies pause or lower dividends if they're not doing as well. That was more my point, they are still doing fine overall, even with increased labor costs, the dividends keep flowing to investors, which at the moment is more important to them.

 

[stealthytolkien]

“Everyone just wants a Tesla!”

 

[tuminatr]

Here is my take, the UAW contract makes it even more unprofitable to manufacture EVs. Ford doesn't see a clear path to being competitive in the marketplace anymore. They need to save cost and moving all aspects of their EV manufacturing to Mexico would do that but the EV rebate being instant in 2024 and being contingent on battery components being made in the USA complicates things.

With the UAW contract the big three can compete on ICE but they can't compete with Tesla and the inbound Chinese EV manufacturers.

As Muck said this could be a death rattle for the legacy automakers.

 

[Mach1E]

You underestimate the avg person. Remember that a significant percentage of the population Can’t balance a check book.

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." - George Carlin

 

[Stang68]

I would love to hear anyone try to give me an argument to convince any of them otherwise. ?

Promise donuts? ?

 

[Mach1E]

Promise donuts? ?

Would take more than doughnuts to convince everyone to wake up two hours earlier for what would have been 4 hour drive in an ICE. ?

And even if we gave ourselves the extra 2 hours, I dunno if chargers would be available and working (or exist) where we would need them on alligator alley. So it’d be 2 charging stops on the way there and 2 more on the way back and no destination charger at our hotel.

Or I borrow my wife’s SUV and spend 10 minutes filling up once.

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