Is it time to start asking whether electric vehicles have any redeeming value in 2024? Given the recent spate of bad news surrounding them, the answer to that question is becoming clearer.
As RedState reported, Ford has cut the production of its "Lightning" electric pickup truck in half. Why? Mainly because no one wants to buy them. Why do they not want to buy them? Because they are overpriced, unreliable, and impractical.
Ford Slashes Electric Truck Production Because Nobody Wants Them
Who could have guessed that paying $55,000 (and that's with EV subsidies) for a stripped-down, base-level truck that overheats when you tow things and can't drive over 300 miles on a single charge wouldn't appeal to the average F-150 buyer? Certainly, people who use their trucks for work have found little to no use for such a pointless monstrosity.
It's not just the Lightning, though. The entire EV industry is getting hit by reality right now.
There is no better example of government idiocy than the top-down push for electric vehicles, which at this point has cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. They were a solution to a problem that didn't exist, and even then, they turned out to not be a solution at all. It's not just about cost either. How useful is a car that loses most of its range when it gets below freezing? How useful is a car that can't be driven for more than a few hours in a row, even in perfect conditions?
Ford and GM aren't cutting EV production because they want to. They are doing so because the market is forcing them to. People want reliable vehicles that meet their needs. They don't want to pay a five-figure repair bill for a new battery or because an electric motor failed. Gas-powered cars are not only far more capable, they are cheaper when it comes to acquisition, maintenance, and operating costs. The nexus of spending money on fuel vs. electricity is so far apart that you'll be buying the aforementioned new battery long before you approach any actual savings.
So again, it's worth asking whether EVs have any redeeming qualities in their current iteration. They aren't renewable, and rely on toxic chemicals mined by literal child slaves in Africa that eventually require replacement. They are less capable than your average gas-powered vehicle. They typically cost more new but don't hold their value because the batteries are so expensive to replace, meaning buyers get hit coming and going. The list goes on.
Aren't they saving the planet, though? I'd suggest not given they still rely on power largely created by fossil fuels anyway. So, what's the point? All EVs are doing is empowering China, which produces 70 percent of the world's EVs and controls most of the mining of the materials needed to build them. How many billions of dollars are American companies going to continue to throw away pursuing this government-pushed pipedream? The answer is likely quite a few billion more. Eventually, the market always wins, though.