THE MORNING RANT: Periodic Roundup of the EV Follies – 9/19/2025

Thanks to President Donald Trump, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and Congressional Republicans, the nightmare of the government-enforced “EV transition” is on the ropes. I’m not writing about it as often now, but neither am I going to stop, because the left is not done trying to force these external combustion vehicles on us. Here are some updates on what has been going on:

With the car buying public having emphatically rejected EVs, manufacturers are dealing with a glut of unsold inventory, and the situation will only worsen with the end of the federal $7,500 EV credit at the end of September. So, they have no choice but to shut down EV assembly lines.

Stellantis (Chrysler / Dodge) kept putting off the launch of a full-size electric pickup. It’s now dead. You might say Stellantis has pulled the plug.

“Ram cancels plans for all-electric pickup truck” [CNBC – 9/12/2025]

With the announcement, RAM also announced that it would continue working on an “extended range electric truck, which is equipped with an electric generator and a gas engine.” In other words, it’s a complicated mess with multiple drivetrains. Good luck with that.

There has been a series of announcements about General Motors suspending production of its unpopular Hummer EV and Cadillac Escalade IQ. GM first announced that it’s cutting production and laying off workers at its Detroit assembly plant.

“GM putting 360 workers at Detroit EV plant on layoff in September to cut output” [Automotive News – 8/28/2025]

GM also announced that it is completely suspending production of those same two vehicles later this year at its Spring Hill, TN plant. Production at that plant will also be curtailed in the first half of 2026. I’m pretty sure that is a harbinger of a total suspension of EV production in Spring Hill.

“General Motors cuts output at one of its main EV factories, citing weak demand” [CBC – 9/04/2025]

But wait, there’s more. GM is also cutting production of the electric Bolt at its Kansas City plant.

I pray that GM will give up on the globalist EV distraction and re-focus on selling cars that its customers want to buy. It bothers me that good people are being let go from the assembly line because GM is way too slow to admit defeat and pivot toward assembling vehicles that it can actually sell.

Meanwhile, Rivian continues to circle the drain. Its business plan was reliant on the forces of government putting traditional ICE auto manufacturers out of business, so I have little sympathy when Rivian finally ceases production…and that day is getting closer.

“Rivian lays off hundreds of employees ahead of the end of EV tax credits” [LA Times – 9/08/2025]

Rivian’s anemic sales don’t even keep its one plant in Illinois very busy, and yet it’s still pretending it will build a giant new plant in Georgia. In fact, a “groundbreaking” charade was just held at the site outside Atlanta for which Governor Brian Kemp squandered $1.5 billion of Georgia taxpayer money. The reason for the “groundbreaking” event this week was so that Rivian could tap into the $6.6 billion “loan” authorized by President Biden (or more likely, his autopen) in the final days of his administration. A shovel full of dirt was a required milestone to let more taxpayer money flow to Rivian.

VW is suspending production of its electric ID.4 at its Tennessee plan for much the same reason. Sales of the ID.4 have collapsed from already anemic sales levels.

“Volkswagen Chattanooga to furlough 160 workers as ID.4 production pauses” [Times Free Press – 9/02/2025]

Sales of the ID.4 fell 65% from April through June compared to the same period last year, Volkswagen reported in July, pointing to a "challenging environment." The automaker sold fewer than 2,000 ID.4 units during the quarter.

Non-electric Volkswagens are great vehicles. The unused capacity at the Tennessee plant should be converted to gasoline-powered VWs and Audis that are currently being imported and hit by tariffs. But continuing to pursue an imaginary EV customer base is fruitless, as there is virtually no price at which Americans will buy an electric Volkswagen:

“Even with $11,000 Discounts, Volkswagen struggles to sell its most affordable EV”

“Volkswagen is practically giving away the ID.4 with leases as low as $99 a month”

Sorry, Volkswagen, but $0 is still too high a price for your EV.

Of course, part of the fun of owning an electric vehicle is playing “EV roulette,” never knowing if your car is going to spontaneously burst into a runaway thermal fire. A lot of that has been happening in San Diego recently. Fox San Diego reports that “Multiple electric vehicles caught on fire at an EV charging station in a northern San Diego Target parking lot Saturday night.”

Still in San Diego, several vehicles left to charge overnight at a Hertz lot near the airport were consumed in a runaway thermal fire. “Five vehicles that were charging sustained damage, with two of them fully engulfed, Harbor Police told FOX 5/KUSI.”

The risk of a runaway thermal fire from a damaged battery is so serious that even a minor fender bender can require that an EV be totaled, because even the slightest damage to the battery case can be catastrophic. As a result, the cost of insuring EVs is proving to be catastrophic to the wallets of EV owners.

“New data uncover another hidden cost of EV ownership: high insurance premiums” [ LA Times – 8/29/2025]

The insurance premiums on electric vehicles are, on average, a whopping 49% higher than those for gas-powered cars, according to new data from the digital insurance platform Insurify.

It costs an average of $4,058 annually to insure an electric vehicle, compared with $2,732 for a traditional vehicle, according to the data. Electric cars cost more to replace, are more expensive to repair, and are more likely to have issues that lead to insurance claims, the report said.

Much of the (limited) appeal of EVs is the perceived exclusivity of driving an expensive, boutique product, indicating that money is not a concern. But for everyone else, with the cost of EV insurance running about 50% higher than the cost of insuring an ICE car, it is financially reckless for those on a tight budget to waste money driving and insuring an EV.

For all that’s wrong with EVs, we’re constantly being told that they’re mechanically less complex than ICE vehicles, with far fewer moving parts. So, they’re more reliable, right? Of course not.

“Consumer Reports Data Shows EV Trucks Like the Rivian R1T, F-150 Lightning, Sierra EV, and Silverado EV Are Among the Least Reliable Vehicles on the Market Today” [Torque News – 9/11/2025]

Related…

“Iowa City’s entire EV bus fleet is out of commission, waiting for repairs” [KCRG – 8/07/2025]

At least Iowa City has only a handful of electric buses. The province of Quebec went BIG with electrification of its school bus fleet, supporting the now-bankrupt Lion bus company with massive EV bus purchases. They’re all grounded now.

“Quebec Grounds All 1,200 Lion Electric School Buses After Fire” [The Epoch Times – 9/12/2025]

Quebec’s government has suspended all 1,200 Lion electric school buses in the province from operation after one caught fire earlier this week, leading to school cancellations and numerous school bus routes being halted.

On the other side of Canada, Alberta’s Minister of Environment, Rebecca Schulz, has stated that “Alberta will not accept EV Mandate” from the Canadian government.

The federal government must face the inevitable and abandon the unrealistic, ineffective and unwanted EV mandate before it kicks in next year. This is another failed Trudeau policy, just like the carbon tax, which hurt Canadians from coast to coast.

Of course, there is an option for Alberta other than pleading with the climate cultists in Ottawa to relax their Net Zero obsession. As I’ve been frequently writing about recently, Alberta should secede from Canada.

Tesla has opened a super-charging site in Los Angeles which doubles as a diner / entertainment complex, about which Elon Musk tweeted, “If our retro-futuristic diner turns out well, which I think it will, Tesla will establish these in major cities around the world, as well as at Supercharger sites on long distance routes.”

Channeling my own thoughts, a Twitter/X user with the handle @Brick_Suit responded, ”Imagine cars that take so long to refuel that you need a diner and movie screens to distract you while you wait. That day is finally here.”

I’ll wrap it up today with a visual of just how desperate the glut of unsold EVs is for manufacturers. Car Dealership Guy recently tweeted out a list of all the vehicles with 0% financing and there is something very conspicuous about the list.

Except for the Dodge Charger and Lincoln Navigator, every vehicle on this list is an EV. Even worse, with 2026 year-model vehicles now hitting dealership showrooms, a bunch of these unsellable EVs are two-year old 2024 year-models!

At this point, it might be easier for manufacturers to just book the loss, scrap these cars, and get back to making deals on cars that consumers actually want to buy.

A tip of the hat to Comrade Arthur, Mark Pulliam, Mr. CBD, and all the others who brighten my day whenever they send me a tip about the EV debacle.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

| Access Comments