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Why even order a Cybertruck if you can't immediately flip it for twice what you paid?Even before deliveries of the Tesla Cybertruck began, the electric automaker made it clear that it would be a long time before it was produced in anything other than extremely limited quantities. That meant that if you were one of the few who had pulled yourself up by your bootstraps hard enough, you stood to make quite a bit of money auctioning yours off to the highest bidder. The latest failed attempt to do so, this time on Cars & Bids, has us worried, though....

The Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has revealed its ambition: to phase out gas-powered cars in favor of electric vehicles (EVs). Incredibly, this announcement comes as we are flooded with overwhelming evidence that EVs are a market loser. Indeed, the artificial boom and then meltdown of the EV market is a modern industrial calamity. It was created by government, social media, wild disease frenzy, far-flung thinking, and the irrational chasing of utopia, followed by a rude awakening by facts and reality. CEO of Hertz Stephen Scherr has been booted out due to a vast purchase of an EV fleet...

Donald Trump's anodyne if overexcited comment that the U.S. auto industry would face a "bloodbath" if he's not elected and doesn't impose 50% or 100% tariffs on cars produced predictable results. "Don't outsmart yourself," Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) posted, and Joe Biden's campaign promptly charged Trump with promising a "bloodbath" if he loses, without saying that he used a common metaphor and was talking about the auto industry. That's a subject Team Biden is understandably touchy about, given the conspicuous fiasco of its electric vehicle policies. It's summed up in a lengthy Wall Street Journal report on how a "dramatic...

I have a friend who frequently says that, if you control CO2 outputs, you control everything. Let me explain: Every aspect of modern life is dependent on hydrocarbons and, when hydrocarbons are burned for energy, they produce CO2. By demonizing CO2, you demonize hydrocarbons, which means…ta-dah!...you get to block hydrocarbons and control everything. We’re getting a glimpse of that with Joe Biden’s new energy emission rules, which will effectively make it impossible to build a gas-powered car in a few years, forcing people into costly, dangerous, unreliable, and dirty electric vehicles. Here’s the report from Fox:The Biden administration has finalized...

The startup electric car company Fisker said this week that it is halting the production of its vehicles to raise $150 million in emergency funds as it grapples with a cash crunch spurred by a low demand for electric vehicles. The California-based company, which says its mission is to “create the world’s most emotional and sustainable electric vehicles,” has barely produced over a thousand electric vehicles worldwide for the year. “The company has approximately 4,700 vehicles in its currently inventory, carried over from 2023 and including 2024 production,” the company said. “While it has not completed an NRV analysis for...

The EPA is rolling out stringent tailpipe rules correctly described as an ‘electrical vehicle mandate in disguise.’ As spring begins, let us think back to an icy time in January when Tesla owners were stranded because their electric vehicle batteries flatlined in the subzero temps and many charging stations were dead or dying. “I’ve been here for over five hours at this point, and I still have not gotten to charge my car,” Tesla driver Brandon Welbourne told CBS Chicago. “A charge that should take 45 minutes is taking two hours.” Spring forward and the enviro-extremist Biden administration is rolling...

President Joe Biden has issued a new environmental federal regulation to begin phasing out gas-powered cars, requiring American automakers to produce Electric Vehicles (EVs) as part of his sweeping green energy agenda. On Wednesday, Biden announced the rule to require that a majority of new cars sold in the U.S. market are EVs or hybrids by 2032, the New York Times details: Nearly three years in the making, the new tailpipe pollution limits from the Environmental Protection Agency would transform the American automobile market. A record 1.2 million electric vehicles rolled off dealers’ lots last year, but they made up...

Story after story has come out about the implosion in the EV market. As with many luxury goods, the market can quickly expand and just as quickly top out, as the latent market demand gets filled. This is what happened with electric vehicles, which appeal greatly to a small cross-section of the market, but not so much to the general car buyer. Our colleague, Beege has been on this beat and done an outstanding job, so I won't duplicate her work proving that the market for EVs has slowed dramatically. All you really need to know is that the market...

As John Adams said:Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.Now, if Stephen Scherr had taken Adams’s observation into consideration, he might still have a job. (However, no sympathy from me; he’ll be employed in no time at all, making more bad decisions that inevitably cost me money, in one way or another.) From a report at the New York Post this afternoon:Hertz, one of the four largest car rental companies in the world, is replacing its CEO after the company...

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. is replacing its chief executive officer in the wake of a disastrous bet on electric vehicles that the company began unwinding in recent months. Stephen Scherr, who ran Hertz for just over two years after three decades at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has decided to step down, the rental-car company said late Friday in a statement. It’s replacing him with Gil West, the former chief operating officer of General Motors Co.’s Cruise robotaxi unit. West also will join the board of directors on April 1, according to the statement, which confirmed an earlier Bloomberg report.

Electric vehicle start-up Fisker is exploring bankruptcy, The Wall Street Journal reported this week. Fisker’s stock plunged this week as investors worry about the company’s ability to survive amid a cash crunch. The auto company also said it would slash 15% of its workforce. The Wall Street Journal reported: Electric-vehicle startup Fisker FSR -55.88%decrease; red down pointing triangle has hired restructuring advisers to assist with a possible bankruptcy filing, according to people familiar with the matter. Fisker, which recently warned that it risked running out of cash this year, hired financial adviser FTI Consulting and the law firm Davis Polk...

Automakers from Ford Motor and General Motors to Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin are scaling back or delaying their electric vehicle plans.. consumer demand for EVs hasn’t shown up in the way executives had expected ... The buzz around electric vehicles is wearing off. For years, the automotive industry has been in a state of EV euphoria. Automakers trotted out optimistic sales forecasts for electric models and announced ambitious targets for EV growth. Wall Street boosted valuations for legacy automakers and startup entrants alike, based in part on their visions for an EV future. Now the hype...

Powering the nation’s long-haul trucks with electricity would require the same amount of electricity for more than 46 million homes every year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In 2022, California adopted regulations that required all new cars, trucks and SUVs sold in the state to be zero emissions by 2035. Immediately, 17 states eyed the electric vehicle mandates and started considering their own. That was on top of the Biden administration’s own tailpipe standards, which many say function as a federal EV mandate. The vision of a forced electric vehicle transition hasn't quite gone as California and the Biden administration have hoped. But in...

Updated Information This story has been updated with a statement from the Georgia Department of Economic Development and Joint Development Authority of Jasper, Morgan, Newton, and Walton Counties. (The Center Square) — While Rivian Automotive paused its $5 billion plant in Georgia, state officials declined to say how — or if — they might attempt to claw back massive taxpayer-backed incentives they offered the company. In December 2021, state officials announced that Rivian planned to build a manufacturing facility in Georgia — its second U.S. plant. Georgia gave $1.5 billion in incentives and the deal was so significant that state...

Andrew Moseman goes into some detail in Friday's Atlantic magazine as to why electric vehicle sales have slowed down recently to the extent that he is now calling 2024 a lost year for EVs as reflected in the title, "America’s Lost Year for Electric Cars."Despite Moseman providing us with a myriad of obvious reasons why consumers appear to be rejecting EVs, he falls back on the easy all-purpose explanation for liberals to blame for whatever the woes: Trump's fault!

Fischer: Last year the University of Nebraska at Lincoln campus conducted a first of its kind crash test of an electric pickup truck to study whether current Highway guard rails adequately protect against the growing number of those heavy EVS that are on our roads. At 60 miles per hour the 7,000 lb electric truck tore through the barrier without offering any protection to the traveling public or reduction in speed. I've recently heard from First Responders that are also concerned about responding to electric vehicle fires. 40% of firefighters have never had EV fire safety training and I've heard...

MORGAN COUNTY, Ga. — Plans for electric vehicle company Rivian to build a $5 billion plant in Georgia have hit a bump in the road. Founder and CEO R.J. Scaringe announced on Thursday two new vehicles, the R2 and R3. The R2 was initially planned to be built at the Georgia plant, but production will now be focused at its existing facility in Normal, Illinois, according to a news release. [snip] They say the timing for resuming construction on the Georgia facility is “expected to be later.” The company says launching production in Illinois will save them an estimated $2.25...

After investing billions of taxpayer dollars in electric vehicles (EVs), the Biden administration is making a sharp dogleg on ambitious targets for implementation. In an effort to court United Auto Workers (UAW) ahead of the 2024 election, President Joe Biden is now seeking a bevy of delays in his climate change plans. From delaying planned EPA climate rules for tailpipe emissions to reevaluating planned dates for EV ownership levels. EV carmakers swallowing massive losses, autoworkers deprived of jobs, and consumers remaining unconvinced to drive electric cars despite incentives and climate marketing were, apparently, not part of the Biden plan. Economics...

Raimondo responded, “Probably, yes. I share the concern. By the way, I have national security concerns about electric vehicles. An electric vehicle has sensors and semiconductors. They know who’s driving it, where they’re driving, huge amounts of data. Chinese EVs on our road, is that data going back to Beijing in ways that undermine our national security?

Rivian’s stock price has lost 90 percent of its value since November 2021. (The Epoch Times)—Amazon-backed electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian will be laying off a part of its workforce amid “challenging” economic conditions, the company said on Wednesday, sending its share price into a nosedive. Rivian announced its Q4, 2023, and full-year results on Feb. 21, revealing that the company will be reducing its salaried workforce by roughly 10 percent. In an email to staff, CEO RJ Scaringe said that layoffs would be implemented on Thursday. “Our business is facing a challenging macroeconomic environment—including historically high interest rates and geopolitical...