Connect with us

Published

on

Volkswagen said it wouldn’t get involved in a price war with Tesla. But now it too is dramatically slashing prices on its ID line of electric vehicles in Europe, following Tesla’s price cuts for the top-selling Model 3 and Model Y.

As the new year brought tighter restrictions on government EV incentives, VW is slashing prices on the ID line in France, Belgium, Germany, and Norway, among other countries, reports Automotive News Europe. The company is also revamping its trim offerings and unrolling “market-specific offers” geared to the “country-specific requirements and needs of customers,” the report said.  

Last January, CEO Oliver Blume said that the automaker wouldn’t get into a price war in Europe with Tesla. “We have a clear pricing strategy and are focusing on reliability. We trust in the strength of our products and brands,” he told Frankfurt Allgemeine Sonnetagszeitung (source: Automotive News Europe). Last October, the company reported a slowdown in EV orders, but said it would stay the course with its pricing model, regardless of what rivals were doing.

That now has changed as VW, among other automakers, is looking for new strategies to keep momentum going as Tesla quickly outpaces the competition. In France, VW has overhauled its line so that now nearly all versions of the ID3 compact hatchback and ID4 and ID5 SUVs on offer are eligible for the government’s EV bonus of €5K to €7K. The ID5 is now available in France for just over €50K in a new “ID” trim, which is more than €8 less than when it launched.

VW trailed Tesla by a long shot in EV sales in France. In 2023, VW sold 4,791 ID3s, making it only the 84th most popular model overall and 13th best-selling EV, Automotive News Europe reports. In France, the Tesla Model Y, the best-selling EV, sold 37,124 units.

In Norway, VW has made more critical cuts to the ID3’s price tag, to stay competitive in a market that has achieved 82% percent of sales being EVs – 20% of those sales being a Telsa in 2023. Belgium and Sweden will also see revised vehicles and lower prices. In Belgium, the ID3 is now priced at €39,990 and the ID4 for €39,649, both now eligible for an EV bonus of €5,000.

Electrek also reported that VW has pushed back plans to launch its $27,000 (€25,000) ID 2all EV, moving from the target of 2025 to May 2026, according to German media outlet auto motor und sport. But delaying the production of an affordable EV could be a risky move that could VW back even further as Tesla and BYD gain momentum.

European sales in 2023 brought in just over 2 million BEVs, compared to 1.6 million in 2022. But those numbers need to quickly improve if Europe is to meet its emissions goals. EV sales are expected to accelerate to 4.8 million in 2025. By 2030, 9.3 million EVs are expected on European roadways, according to investment researcher Jefferies (source: Forbes).

This year, Europe is targeting 22% of the market share to be comprised of BEVs, up from 18% in 2023. By 2030, that should bump up to 80%, and then to 100% by 2035.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Continue Reading

Environment

Solar stocks tumble overnight as Trump leads in election results

Published

on

By

Solar stocks tumble overnight as Trump leads in election results

Copper Mountain Solar in El Dorado Valley, pictured on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Boulder City, Nevada. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Bizuayehu Tesfaye | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

Solar stocks sold off overnight as investors see Donald Trump leading in the U.S. presidential election.

Solar stocks are falling on fears that a possible Trump victory would spell trouble for the Inflation Reduction Act, which has fueled a clean energy boom in the U.S. through tax credits to expand solar energy.

The benchmark Invesco Solar ETF was down 7% in overnight trading on brokerage Robinhood. The solar panel manufacturer First Solar tumbled 8% overnight. Residential solar stocks Sunrun and Sunnova fell 6% and 2.6%, respectively. Inverter manufacturer Enphase tumbled 5% and Nextracker was down nearly 5%.

Trump’s campaign platform calls for the termination of the IRA, which he refers to as the “Socialist Green New Deal.” The IRA is one of President Joe Biden’s signature achievements. The law passed on party-line vote in 2022 without any Republican support.

Trump is leading in the electoral college and is projected to win the key swing state of North Carolina, according to NBC News. The future of the IRA, however, will depend not only on whether Trump wins the White House, but whether Republicans also secure control of Congress.

Kamala Harris’ campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told staff in an email Tuesday that the clearest path to victory for the vice president lies in the so-called Blue Wall states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Continue Reading

Environment

Crypto’s $245 million campaign finance operation filled airwaves with ads not about crypto

Published

on

By

Crypto's 5 million campaign finance operation filled airwaves with ads not about crypto

Stand With Crypto’s bus tour through five battleground states kicked off last week in Phoenix and Las Vegas.

Logan Dobson/Stand With Crypto Alliance

LAS VEGAS — In Nevada’s 4th Congressional District, a crypto PAC spent nearly $2 million on ads this cycle to support the reelection of Steven Horsford, a Democratic congressman who’s voted in favor of some major pro-crypto bills.

But watching the ads, you’d learn nothing about that agenda.

“He’s leading on jobs, bringing good paying union jobs to Nevada and rebuilding our infrastructure,” one 30-second commercial says. “He capped insulin prices at $35 a month” and “worked multiple jobs to support his hard-working single mother and siblings.”

The ad wraps up with the disclosure, “Fairshake is responsible for the content of this ad.”

Fairshake was the largest crypto-aligned super PAC in the 2024 election cycle, spending piles of cash to support crypto allies and vote out antagonists across the country. The group brought in $170 million, accounting for a huge chunk of the amount raised by crypto-related PACs and other groups, which totaled more than $245 million, according to Federal Election Commission data.

Crypto has accounted for nearly half of all corporate money flowing into the election, according to a report from nonprofit watchdog Public Citizen. No other sector is close. That includes oil companies and banks, which have historically been big political contributors. Crypto even outpaced Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, who spent tens of millions of dollars to try to get Republican nominee former President Donald Trump back in the White House in his contest against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

A big part of the crypto industry’s strategy when it came to distributing cash was to identify key races and then flood the zone.

Industry advocacy group Stand With Crypto Alliance, launched by Coinbase last year, developed a grading system for the presidential race and for House and Senate candidates across the country, helping it determine where to spend.

Bitcoin hits three-month high as bipartisan support of crypto industry fuels spot ETF inflows

Horsford received an A grade based on his public comments and his voting history while in office. His campaign received money from Fairshake as well as individual donations from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, venture capitalist and longtime crypto investor Reid Hoffman, and billionaire twins Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss.

Nevada is home to two of the thirteen “critical elections” singled out by Stand with Crypto, a designation the group defines as races that are “critical to the future of crypto in America.” In addition to Horsford’s election, the other Nevada race is the Senate contest between Democratic incumbent Jackie Rosen and Republican challenger Sam Brown. Both candidates received an A grade.

According to data shared by Stand with Crypto, 385,000 Nevadans are crypto owners, and more than 16,000 people in the state have signed up to be advocates for the group, which made a stop in Las Vegas in September as part of a multi-state tour.

The other races deemed critical were for Senate in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan, Wisconsin and Maryland, and for specific House contests in Colorado, Iowa and Oregon.

To reach potential voters, Fairshake isn’t talking a lot about crypto. Nor are its affiliate PACs, which have names like Defend American Jobs and Protect Progress. They’ve collectively spent more than $135 million this cycle, mostly on ads.

“Not mentioning crypto assets explicitly is probably a savvy move to avoid alienating voters who prefer traditional currencies and might be put off by connections to crypto,” said David Nickerson, an associate professor of political science at Temple University who worked in the analytics department for President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012.

The biggest single target of crypto money this cycle was Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Democratic chair of the Senate Banking Committee. Brown backed Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in holding hearings on whether digital tokens were tied to terrorism.

In December, Brown told journalists that he wasn’t concerned about the crypto industry’s rumblings against him.

“Bring ’em on,” Politico quoted Brown as saying to a crowd of reporters.

Some $40 million of crypto money has been directed at defeating Brown, and one PAC has paid for five ads designed to boost awareness of Republican rival Bernie Moreno, a blockchain entrepreneur. The race is crucial in determining which party will control the Senate.

Protect Progress, a PAC affiliated with Fairshake, has given more than $10 million apiece to Senate candidates in Arizona and Michigan. In Arizona, the group favors Democrat Ruben Gallego, who is vying for the seat being vacated by Kyrsten Sinema. In Michigan, the preferred choice is Elissa Slotkin, who is currently a Democratic House member.

Democratic Rep. Katie Porter of California lost in the primary for Senate after Fairshake spent over $10 million in ads against her. Defend American Jobs spent more than $3 million to support Republican Jim Justice in West Virginia, who has been declared the winner, replacing exiting Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.

WATCH: Jay Clayton on regulation

Jay Clayton on regulation: This is the biggest difference between each candidate's policy

Continue Reading

Environment

Cybertruck dually, overland Kia concepts, and electric Mopars at SEMA

Published

on

By

Cybertruck dually, overland Kia concepts, and electric Mopars at SEMA

On today’s episode of Quick Charge, we find out what a one-ton Tesla Cybertruck looks like, check out some clever, off-road Kia overland EVs, witness the electric rebirth of Plymouth with a plugin street rod, and more!

We’ve also got a bunch of new, $300/mo. EV lease deals and talk up the rapid rise of the Ultium-based Honda Prologue, which is rocketing up the sales charts!

Today’s episode features our new title sponsor, BLUETTI – a leading provider of portable power stations, solar generators, and energy storage systems. For a limited time, save up to 50% during BLUETTI’s exclusive Black Friday pre-sale, now through November 11. Learn more by clicking here here.

Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple PodcastsSpotifyTuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news!

Got news? Let us know!
Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show!

Read more: New Honda battery electric lawn mowers will be made in the USA.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Continue Reading

Trending