Which is it, already – is US EV demand slowing or growing?
Some media say EV demand is slowing, and other media claim there’s record demand. So what’s going on? ZETA’s Albert Gore and I chatted about it.
Let’s look at the latest US EV sales stats first. Cox Automotive reported on October 12 that EV sales volumes set another record in Q3, as total sales of BEVs passed 300,000 for the first time in the US market. That’s a 49.8% increase year-over-year.
What’s more, the market is “firmly on track” to surpass 1 million this year for the first time ever – and indeed, that milestone is expected to be reached this month. Cox says EV sales have now increased for 13 straight quarters. But it also concludes its report with the subtle words, “Change is never easy.”
That’s for sure. So, the EV industry is growing, but there are a lot of growing pains.
Let’s look at GM as an example. The automaker abandoned its plans to build 400,000 EVs by mid-2024 and will wait several months to begin to sell some new EV models. But its CFO, Paul Jacobson, said in its Q3 2023 earnings call that slowing demand was not something the company was seeing in its portfolio. He noted that “customers have been remarkably resilient in the order book, continuing to keep their orders on the books.” I even searched the call’s transcript for the phrase “slowing demand,” and it was nowhere to be found.
So, Albert Gore, the Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA) executive director, and I discussed what he’s observing when it comes to EV demand. ZETA advocates for the full adoption of EVs by 2030, and Gore was previously the lead for public policy and business development for the East and Midwest at Tesla. (And yes, because I know you’re wondering, he’s the son of the former VP and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore.)
Gore cited the data when I asked him about the slew of recent doom stories. He said he’s been “puzzled by the avalanche of stories about how EVs are piling up on dealer lots. I tried to do a deep dive into sales data, and if there’s [a slowdown] it must be highly specific or regional, but year-over-year, the sales growth is 40-50%. It’s enormous. And there are a much greater variety of vehicles being sold.”
So perhaps it’s not that EV sales aren’t growing, much less growing quickly – they are. Perhaps it’s just that they’re not selling as fast as OEMs want them to, seeing how they’ve staked a lot on the EV transition. That’s a big change, and change makes them, and the market, nervous. And there are some substantial losses occurring – Ford, for example, expects a full-year loss of $4.5 billion for its EV unit.
Add to that the fact that prices are being pushed down due to rising competition – Tesla cut the Model Y’s price so the least expensive model is $2,500 less than the Ford Mustang Mach-E after IRA tax credits in order to compete.
So, both demand and supply are up. Going back to GM, its EV production climbed 40% from Q2 to Q3, while EV sales grew 28%. Dealers’ lots are no longer empty, and we’re moving past the EV-buying pioneer phase into the beginnings of mass market sales. Consumers who are preparing to buy EVs know that upfront rebates of $7,500 at dealerships are coming, too.
Gore noted that folks who want to “maintain the status quo” want to use the number of cars on dealer lots as a data point, but “that’s not a data point that shows sales are slowing down. Why is this single thing magnified to a hundred stories when you zoom out and see phenomenal growth?”
Gore said that he feels “it’s a mistake to imply that people don’t want to buy EVs because data shows demand is resilient and sales are growing consistently. But the transition will take hard work, sustained effort, and commitment.
“There are just so many different dynamics related to EVs right now.”
If you live in an area that has frequent natural disaster events, and are interested in making your home more resilient to power outages, consider going solar and adding a battery storage system. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –ad*
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
GreenPower Motor Company says it’s received three orders for 11 of its BEAST electric Type D school buses for western state school districts in Arizona, California, and Oregon.
GreenPower hasn’t made the sort of headline-grabbing promises or big-money commitments that companies like Nikola and Lion Electric have, but while those companies are floundering GPM seems to be plugging away, taking orders where it can and actually delivering buses to schools. Late last year, the company scored 11 more orders for its flagship BEAST electric school bus.
As far as these latest orders go, the breakdown is:
- seven to Los Banos Unified School District in Los Banos, California
- two for the Hood River County School District in Hood River, Oregon
- two for the Casa Grande Elementary School District in Casa Grande, Arizona
Those two BEAST electric school buses for Arizona will join another 90-passenger BEAST that was delivered to Phoenix Elementary School District #1, which operates 15 schools in the center of Phoenix, late last year.
“As school districts continue to make the change from NOx emitting diesel school buses to a cleaner, healthier means of transporting students, school district transportation departments are pursuing the gold standard of the industry – the GreenPower all-electric, purpose-built (BEAST) school buses,” said Paul Start, GreenPower’s Vice President of Sales, School Bus Group. “(The) GreenPower school bus order pipeline and production schedule are both at record levels with sales projections for (2025) set to eclipse the 2024 calendar year.”
GreenPower moved into an 80,000-square-foot production facility in South Charleston, West Virigina in August 2022, and delivered its first buses to that state the following year.
Electrek’s Take
Since the first horseless carriage companies started operating 100 years ago (give or take), at least 1,900 different companies have been formed in the US, producing over 3,000 brands of American automobiles. By the mid 1980s, that had distilled down to “the big 3.”
All of which is to say: don’t let the recent round of bankruptcies fool you – startups in the car and truck industry is business as usual, but some of these companies will stick around. If you’re wondering which ones, look to the ones that are making units, not promises.
SOURCE | IMAGES: GreenPower Motors.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
While some recent high-profile bankruptcies have cast doubt on the EV startup space recently, medium-duty electric truck maker Harbinger got a shot of credibility this week with a massive $100 million Series B funding round co-led by Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for fledgling EV brands like Lion Electric and Canoo, but box van builder Harbinger is bucking the trend, fueling its latest funding round with an order book of 4,690 vehicles that’s valued at nearly $500 million. Some of the company’s more notable customers including Bimbo Bakeries (which owns brands like Sara Lee, Thomas’, and Entenmann’s) and THOR Industries (Airstream, Jayco, Thor), which is also one of the investors in the Series B.
Other prominent investors include Tiger Global, the Coca-Cola System Sustainability Fund, and ArcTern Ventures.
As for what makes Harbinger such an attractive investment prospect, Dipender Saluja, Managing Partner of Capricorn Investment Group’s Technology Impact Fund explains that, “Harbinger has demonstrated a remarkable ability to reach significant milestones far quicker than other EV companies … the market has been impressed by their ability to develop large portions of the vehicle in-house to drive down unit costs, while remaining capital efficient.”
The company plans to use the funds to ramp up to higher-volume production capacity and deliver on existing orders, as well as build-out of the company’s sales, customer support, and service operations.
“Harbinger is entering a rapid growth phase where we are focused on scaling production of our customer-ready platform,” said John Harris, co-founder and CEO. “These funds catalyze significant revenue generation. We’ve developed a vehicle for a segment that is ripe for electrification, and there is a strong product/market fit that will help fuel our upward trajectory through 2025 and beyond.”
The company has raised $200 million since its inception in 2021.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Harbinger.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
There is no state more associated with cars and car culture than Michigan – and the state that’s home to the Motor City has just taken a huge step into the future with the deployment of its first-ever all electric police vehicle.
The 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E patrol vehicle is assigned to the Michigan State Police State Security Operations Section, and will be to be used by armed, uniformed members of the MSP specializing in general law enforcement and security services at state-owned facilities in the Lansing, MI area.
“This is an exciting opportunity for us to research, in real time, how a battery electric vehicle performs on patrol,” says Col. James F. Grady II, director of the MSP. “Our state properties security officers patrol a substantially smaller number of miles per day than our troopers and motor carrier officers, within city limits and at lower speeds, coupled with the availability of charging infrastructure in downtown Lansing, making this the ideal environment to test the capabilities of a police-package battery electric vehicle.”
The MSP’s Precision Driving Unit is nationally renowned for its annual Police Vehicle Evaluation, which our own Scooter Doll participated in last year, driving the then-new Chevy Blazer EV Police Pursuit Vehicles in a game of “cops and robbers.”
In those tests, the EVs have impressed – but the MSP has been hesitant to commit to a BEV until now. “We began testing battery electric vehicles in 2022, but up until now hybrids were the only alternative fuel vehicle in our fleet,” said Lt. Nicholas Darlington, commander of the Precision Driving Unit. “Adding this battery electric vehicle to our patrol fleet will allow us to study the vehicle’s performance long-term to determine if there is a potential for cost savings and broader applicability within our fleet.”
Michigan joins other states like Wisconsin and California in deploying electric patrol cars and saving big money on fuel and maintenance, with many more out there and many more to come.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Michigan State Police.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports10 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway