It has been tough sledding for the electric vehicle industry as of late. Under Joe Biden and his so-called green energy agenda, lofty promises were made regarding emission reductions, infrastructure improvements, and fat tax incentives for purchasing pricey EVs.
Naturally, that hasn’t deterred the climate alarmists and green energy grifters as the administration continues to choke off American energy, and gasoline remains a costly commodity courtesy of Joe Biden. However, automakers can only push their battery-powered cars if consumers are willing to buy them; as of now, they largely aren’t.
While inflation, lower real wages, high prices at the grocery store, and hefty price tags for EVs have certainly contributed to the less than excited reaction from the car-buying public, there has also been a litany of other issues affecting sales.
There have been mechanical issues, including occasional battery fires with some Tesla models, and the charging grid is simply a leftist-fevered dream at this point, making charging the vehicles less than ideal.
Parts and supply chain issues and high prices of the vehicles have also hindered lower-end models from manufacturers like Chevrolet and Ford. Speaking of Ford, they pinned much of their electric future on the F-150 Lightning pickup truck but have also been plagued by supply chain issues, battery fires, factory defects, and range issues when the truck is towing or hauling payload.
Recently, one of the first electric startups not named Tesla reported more bad news for their company and the industry at large. Fisker, one of the first competitors for Tesla, recently released the results of the most recent quarter, and the news wasn’t good.
Fisker reported lower-than-expected revenue, but that wasn’t all of the grim news. The California-based company also revealed its production plan for the next quarter, and that news is grim as well. Fisker announced it is slashing its annual production target on its Ocean SUV to just 13,000-17,000 a year. That number is markedly below its previous projection of 20,000-23,000.
For the third quarter, Fisker posted a staggering loss of $90.9 million. Analysts had predicted the startup to lose somewhere in the neighborhood of $69.2 million. Meanwhile, revenue numbers met roughly half of what was expected, as Fisker expected $143 million but only saw $71.8 million.
Consequently, the company’s stock shares took a 13 percent hit on Monday and a 22 percent gash on Tuesday. The industry largely blames these downturns on economic challenges, including waning demand for pricey, often unreliable electric vehicles.
Many EV manufacturers have attempted to massage sales by slashing prices, but even modest price reductions still leave these vehicles far more expensive than their gasoline-powered kin. Fisker, which only produces the Ocean SUV despite originally being a luxury car maker, took the extreme measure of cutting the price by $7,500 in a desperate attempt to move unsold vehicles and clear the way for new model-year SUVs.
Recently, Elon Musk talked about the challenges facing the segment and what uncertain economic times are doing to sales. He said: “People hesitate to buy a new car if there’s uncertainty in the economy. I don’t want to be going into top speed into uncertainty.”
Uncertainty is the keyword for the EV industry. Uncertainty about the economy, the reliability of the products, and the long-term viability and availability of the precious metals needed for manufacturing the vehicles have led many consumers to take a hard pass and stick with gas.
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