Are Parts of the World Retreating on Electric Vehicles? (msn.com)
(Saturday October 18, 2025 @11:34AM (EditorDavid)
from the pulling-the-plugging dept.)
- Reference: 0179820218
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/10/18/0623211/are-parts-of-the-world-retreating-on-electric-vehicles
- Source link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/the-rest-of-the-world-is-following-america-s-retreat-on-evs/ar-AA1OuaOI
Canada's Prime Minister "paused an electric-vehicle sales mandate that was set to take effect next year," [1]reports the Wall Street Journal , which argues a kind of retreat from electric-vehicle ambitions "is spreading around the globe."
Even the U.K.'s Prime Minister "has allowed for a more flexible timetable to hit the country's EV targets." And demand is expected to drop in the U.S., where global consulting firm AlixPartners now predicts EVs will make up 18% of new-vehicle sales by 2030 — just half of what they'd predicted two years ago:
> j U.S. automaker GM will take a $1.6 billion charge "because of sinking EV sales," [2]reports the Wall Street Journal , "a shift it blamed on recent moves by the U.S. government to end EV subsidies and regulatory mandates... That might just be the beginning of a financial reckoning from automakers that poured billions into new electric models — from sports cars and sedans to big pickups and sport-utility vehicles — to try to get ready for the government-backed EV mandates.
>
> Automakers have been saying that consumers aren't adopting EVs as quickly as expected, and government efforts to proliferate the technology [3]are hammering their bottom lines . GM, in announcing its charge, said it is reassessing EV capacity and warned that more losses are possible...Carmakers argue the EV business model is an unprofitable proposition given still-high battery costs, spotty car-charging networks and dwindling government subsidies.
>
> Incentive programs have ended or have been pared back across Europe and in the U.S. and Canada.
>
> Volkswagen, burdened with massive electrification costs, helped spur the reckoning in Europe when it said it would cut 35,000 jobs as part of a deal with its union. The move sent shock waves through the region's political establishment. Weeks later, the EU launched a "strategic dialogue" with the automotive industry that led to a more flexible timetable for automakers to meet its emissions rules for 2025.
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/the-rest-of-the-world-is-following-america-s-retreat-on-evs/ar-AA1OuaOI
[2] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/the-rest-of-the-world-is-following-america-s-retreat-on-evs/ar-AA1OuaOI
[3] https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/auto-industry-trump-tariff-impact-955ca0bf
Even the U.K.'s Prime Minister "has allowed for a more flexible timetable to hit the country's EV targets." And demand is expected to drop in the U.S., where global consulting firm AlixPartners now predicts EVs will make up 18% of new-vehicle sales by 2030 — just half of what they'd predicted two years ago:
> j U.S. automaker GM will take a $1.6 billion charge "because of sinking EV sales," [2]reports the Wall Street Journal , "a shift it blamed on recent moves by the U.S. government to end EV subsidies and regulatory mandates... That might just be the beginning of a financial reckoning from automakers that poured billions into new electric models — from sports cars and sedans to big pickups and sport-utility vehicles — to try to get ready for the government-backed EV mandates.
>
> Automakers have been saying that consumers aren't adopting EVs as quickly as expected, and government efforts to proliferate the technology [3]are hammering their bottom lines . GM, in announcing its charge, said it is reassessing EV capacity and warned that more losses are possible...Carmakers argue the EV business model is an unprofitable proposition given still-high battery costs, spotty car-charging networks and dwindling government subsidies.
>
> Incentive programs have ended or have been pared back across Europe and in the U.S. and Canada.
>
> Volkswagen, burdened with massive electrification costs, helped spur the reckoning in Europe when it said it would cut 35,000 jobs as part of a deal with its union. The move sent shock waves through the region's political establishment. Weeks later, the EU launched a "strategic dialogue" with the automotive industry that led to a more flexible timetable for automakers to meet its emissions rules for 2025.
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/the-rest-of-the-world-is-following-america-s-retreat-on-evs/ar-AA1OuaOI
[2] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/the-rest-of-the-world-is-following-america-s-retreat-on-evs/ar-AA1OuaOI
[3] https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/auto-industry-trump-tariff-impact-955ca0bf
Not cheap enough yet (Score:2)
by jacks smirking reven ( 909048 )
Answered in the summary "still-high battery costs"
EV batteries have yet to be really commoditized, we are getting closer to the tipping point but still a few years away.
The acid test (Score:1)
by greytree ( 7124971 )
The need to save our planet from global warming is a great way to see which politicians actually care about the world we live in and which ones only want power, even if it's over a smoking pile of ashes.
Just speculating. (Score:2)
I wonder if this has anything to do with the general lack of open positions, leaving people facing fears of income stability and reigning in discretionary spending.
Maybe that few-years-old gas-powered car that is still perfectly functional is preferable to a pricey upgrade to a shiny new car with fewer gas stations and longer refuel times.
The emotional satisfaction of living an environmentally-friendly lifestyle is going to take second seat to practical realities, especially during uncertain economic times.