Commentary

After publishing my last edition, in which I opined on the decision by Mary Barra, as CEO of General Motors, to cave to the pressure of the Biden administration and overly commit her company to go all-electric, news of other carmakers to push back on EVs came to light.

While I did mention the drain on funds at Ford as it reported a loss of $130,000 on each EV produced, I have since learned that the bet they made on EVs, with its 2021 investment announcement of $7 billion to establish not one but two new battery plants in Kentucky, was a mistake.  It was a joint venture with a South Korean battery maker.

Today, while one plant is idle, the other only partially producing batteries for Ford.  That facility will now also produce batteries for Nissan.

“The plan marks the latest retrenchment by the U.S. auto giant, which bet aggressively on EV demand that hasn’t materialized,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

While reporting a loss of $5 billion on its EV business in 2024, and predicting an additional $5 billion loss this year, it has suspended its financial guidance for the year.

GM recently sold its stake in a planned battery plant under construction in Michigan, while reportedly its battery plant in Tennessee is running at about 40 percent of planned capacity, while another in Ohio is about 80 percent used.

Meanwhile, the Journal also reported that Honda planned to reduce its investment in EVs by more than $20 billion in the next few years due to the slowing of demand for EVs.

From what I have learned from early reports of the content in the so-called “big beautiful bill,” EV incentive discounts or tax credits will end this year.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.