THE MORNING RANT: Periodic Roundup of the EV Follies – May 3, 2024

Two Fires in One Week at Rivian’s Manufacturing Plant in Illinois

Rivian’s unraveling keeps getting worse. A few weeks ago it was announced that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s (R) $1.5 billion taxpayer-subsidized boondoggle east of Atlanta was indefinitely suspended by Rivian. The start-up EV manufacturer is hemorrhaging cash, and it doesn’t need the Georgia plant because it doesn’t have enough demand to even approach the capacity of its plant in Normal, IL.

Two weeks ago came the news that Rivian is cutting even further and letting more employees go: “Rivian cuts 1% of workforce in second round of layoffs this year” [Reuters – 4/18/2024]

The move follows a 10% layoff at Rivian in February when the company disappointed investors with a lower-than-expected 2024 production forecast.

Well, somehow, it just got even worse. The most terrifying word to anyone involved with EVs is also the most terrifying word in a crowded theater… “FIRE!” It’s a word that is being said with alarming frequency at Rivian’s Illinois plant.

“Fire breaks out in Rivian loading dock, the second in four days” [WGLT – 4/29/2024]

Another fire broke out Monday afternoon at the Rivian plant in Normal – at least the second fire in four days. Monday’s fire destroyed a semitrailer in a loading dock on the south end of the plant, the Normal Fire Department said. A portion of the plant was evacuated until air quality returned to safe levels, fire officials said. No one was injured. An adjacent semitrailer sustained heat damage, and there was moderate heat and smoke damage to the exterior of the Rivian building above the dock area, the Normal Fire Department said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Meanwhile, just four days earlier, there was another fire at the same Rivian plant, this one on the assembly line.

“Fire Forces Evacuation of Rivian Plant” [ WGLT – 4/25/2024]

A fire at the Rivian plant in Normal forced the evacuation of the plant for an hour and a half Thursday morning. The fire happened under a section of conveyor that moves vehicle chassis down the assembly line on the western side of the building, said the Normal Fire Department. Flames did not spread beyond the area, but firefighters said it took some time to ventilate smoke and do air-quality tests in the building.

Saint Greta Is Not Pleased With All You Electric Car Buyers

This seems a bit problematic for all the virtue-signaling EV drivers, because the woman worshipped as divinely pure and infallible in her climate ministry has now condemned electric vehicles. That’s right, Saint Greta the Climate Puppet and her friends at “Fridays for Future Stockholm” are fed up with the exploitation of Congo and its people ”…so that the rest of the world can buy electric cars and other electronic devices.”

Do better, climate sinners. Be better. Driving an EV isn’t going to get you the climate indulgence you seek.

Disincentivizing People From Buying Electric Vehicles

It costs me $32 per year to register my car in Tennessee. Meanwhile, it has been costing EV owners $100 per year. You may be thinking, “Well, that’s not fair.” Of course it’s not fair, EV owners should be paying even more.

“Jolt to wallets: Tennessee electric vehicle owners face steep fee hike in 2024”
(h/t to Mrs. Throckmorton for bringing this story to my attention.)

The reason? One of TDOT's main sources of revenue comes from Tennessee's gas tax, but with more drivers choosing electric vehicles and using charging stations, TDOT is not seeing as much money from it anymore.

The fee for Tennessee EV owners to register their vehicle increased to $200 per year in 2024, and it’s going up to $274 per year in 2026.

This is the way it’s done. While the purpose of the higher EV registration fee may be to recoup lost highway revenue that would otherwise be collected at the gas pump, a welcome side-effect is that it establishes a disincentive to purchasing an EV. I wrote about this subject in a recent piece titled, “Time to Put Team EV on Defense.”

Therefore, we must now put the E.V. advocates on the defensive, making them fear they might lose their precious vehicles as a consequence of their attempted I.C.E. ban. They came after us and we repelled their first assault, but simply repelling an adversary’s attack only sets the stage for their next assault. They must suffer a loss, and they must put all their energy into not suffering any more losses, to ensure that they don’t get the opportunity to come after our gasoline-powered cars again.

Ford’s Continuing EV Financial Debacle

Ford CEO Jim Farley has a serious problem. He’s an obedient eco-globalist determined to turn Ford into an electric vehicle manufacturer. The trouble is that consumers prefer real gas and diesel Ford products, not the electric go-karts that Farley is trying to push on customers. Farley cannot serve two masters. He has to choose between either his communist idols in Davos or the actual consumers visiting Ford dealerships. He really only has one choice. If he continues to pursue the communist/Davos/EV route, Ford will be out of business very shortly.

“Ford just reported a massive loss on every electric vehicle it sold” [CNN – 4/25/2024]

Ford lost $1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2024 on its electric vehicle products, on revenue of just $100 million. That comes out to a breathtaking $132,000 per EV sold.

Ford’s electric vehicle unit reported that losses soared in the first quarter to $1.3 billion, or $132,000 for each of the 10,000 vehicles it sold in the first three months of the year, helping to drag down earnings for the company overall.

Beyond the financial debacle, Ford’s overall EV sales have already peaked and are now plummeting.

The EV unit, which Ford calls Model e, sold 10,000 vehicles in the quarter, down 20% from the number it sold a year earlier. And its revenue plunged 84% to about $100 million, which Ford attributed mostly to price cuts for EVs across the industry.

The early adopters already bought their EVs, and no one else really wants them. In addition, word is out about just how awful these electric toys are, with limited range and functionality, and a very short life span. Dealers hate EVs, and have too much respect for their good customers to put them in a product that will cause ill will. And with its growing glut of unsold EVs, Ford is having to radically discount new EV sales to make the excess inventory go away…which leaves the first suckers who paid full price desperately underwater on a lousy electric vehicle that they cannot trade out of.

What a debacle.

Ford Slashing & Reassigning EV Workforce

Unsurprisingly, Ford is having to re-allocate employees from the plant that makes its unpopular EVs to those making products that consumers actually desire.

Of the 2,100 employees at its EV plant in Dearborn, all but 700 are being redeployed or given early retirement packages.

“Ford to dramatically cut hourly workforce at F-150 Lightning plant in Dearborn” [Detroit Free Press – 3/27/2024]

Ford Motor Co. is dramatically cutting the hourly workforce at the factory that builds the Ford F-150 Lightning starting next week, as the automaker slashes product targets of its all-electric pickup. Of the 2,100 workers who make up three work crews at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, one third will remain on-site after April 1, Ford spokeswoman Jessica Enoch told the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday.

Where are the employees going? They are going to a plant that makes the popular - and gas-powered - Broncos and Rangers. The transferred employees will be able to boost production of these hot selling products by providing manpower for a third shift.

A crew of 700 will be transferred to the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne to build the Bronco and Ranger while the remaining 700 or so will either take the $50,000 retirement package negotiated during the 2023 contract talks or accept reassignment in southeast Michigan. Ford is adding a third crew at Michigan Assembly.

Ford Suspending EV Launches

Related…

Ford is suspending some new electric product launches.

“Ford pumps brakes on three-row electric SUVs, electric pickup truck as demand slows” [MSN – 4/05/2024]

There is something really big in this story, specifically the suspension (excuse me, “delay”) in launching electric pickup production at Ford’s new plant outside Memphis.

Ford Motor said Thursday it had delayed the planned launches of three-row EVs in Canada and its next-generation electric pickup truck in Tennessee as the slowdown in EV demand globally forces automakers to revise production plans. Ford said separately it was boosting hybrid electric vehicle offerings and by 2030 expects to offer hybrid powertrains across its lineup of gas-powered vehicles.

Separately, Ford said it will delay deliveries of an all-new EV truck it will build at a new plant in western Tennessee until 2026. Ford said last year it planned to begin production in late 2025 and build up to 500,000 electric trucks annually at the plant.

As I have previously documented, Ford’s massive $12 billion investment in Tennessee and Kentucky included an EV manufacturing plant and an EV battery plant near Memphis, plus another battery plant in Kentucky. Ford has already indefinitely suspended the Kentucky battery plant in an announcement in October 2023, disclosing that it was canceling $12 billion in EV spending.

Remember, Ford sold only 10,000 EVs in Q1 2024, which annualizes to just 40,000 in a full year…and its demand is decreasing. Ford already has excess EV manufacturing capacity, so there is no use for a new factory that can build 500,000 EVs per year.

One of two things is going to happen:

1) Ford’s “Blue Oval City” plant in Tennessee is going to be mothballed or scuttled.
2) Ford is going to re-purpose this plant to manufacture conventional or hybrid vehicles.

Ford owes its stockholders an answer about this sparkling new albatross in Tennessee. What is clearly not going to happen is the commencement of electric pickup truck production in 2026. Ford is insulting its shareholders by continuing to state that the impossible is going to happen.

Europe Is Now Assertively Rejecting EVs

It’s not just Americans who are rejecting EVs, Europe is too, with a glut of unsold electric vehicles piling up.

“EU's electric car policy in tatters as sales plummet across continent” [Express – 4/18/2024]

“Chinese EV imports among unsold cars piling up in Europe's ports; Several automakers have leased large areas in the ports for vehicle imports that so far have no customers for the cars” [Automotive News – 4/15/2024]

And it’s not just Chinese EVs that Europeans are declining to purchase. They’re backing off of European EV brands too. Volkswagen has been the leading retailer of EVs in Europe, but its Q1 2024 EV sales dropped dramatically from Q1 2023.

“Volkswagen Group Global EV Sales Slid In Q1 2024” [Inside EVs – 4/13/2024]

The company sold roughly 3.3% fewer all-electric vehicles [globally] than a year ago. In Europe, the decline was 24.3%.

VW’s Problems in the U.S.

With VW’s electric vehicle efforts in this country already failing, what is to become of its new EV plant in Tennessee, which opened less than two years ago, and is adjacent to a plant that builds gas-powered VWs?

It’s barely worth noting at this point that Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (R) threw $50 million of taxpayer grants at VW to build this EV plant. Of course he did. A ridiculous amount of Tennessee taxpayer money has been thrown at EV boondoggles. It’s embarrassing.

And speaking of that VW plant in Tennessee.

“Tennessee Volkswagen employees overwhelmingly vote to join United Auto Workers union” [AP – 4/20/2024]

Employees at a Volkswagen factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, overwhelmingly voted to join the United Auto Workers union Friday in a historic first test of the UAW’s renewed effort to organize nonunion factories.

I’m kind of agnostic about this. If VW were a well-run company, I’d be concerned about the potential harm that this could cause. But if VW were a well-run company, the employees probably wouldn’t be unionizing.

VW as a company has embraced the left-wing agenda of western globalists, including climate communism and cultural communism. It’s doubtful the company can survive too long with that communist rot within.

But it also seems a little unfair then, that in a passionately communist organization like VW, why hasn’t it fully embraced economic communism too? How is it fair that it is leaving the employees out of its communist mission? Isn’t any profit VW makes due to its exploitation of labor?

I’m not really serious, of course, but if VW is on a suicide path in obedience to its globalist/communist overlords, the employees might as well get as much as they can before VW is gone.

My Latest at The Pipeline

In my latest piece at The Pipeline (EVs Enter the Doom Loop) I note the similarity between the irrational exuberance of the EV bubble, which is now busting, to the dot com bubble of a quarter-century ago, with the notable difference that unlike the dot com era, the EV bubble has been soaked in sanctimony and has received a flood of taxpayer subsidization before it started going bust.

I’d be honored if you’d give it a read.

>>> Breaking News

After I had today’s post all coded and ready to go, this news broke:

“Rivian receives $827 million in incentives to expand Illinois facility” [Reuters – 5/02/2024]

First off, congratulations to Brian Kemp for no longer being the EV industry’s biggest mark. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has set a new standard of credulity by throwing almost a billion dollars at a company that is already deep into its doom loop.

In exchange for the Illinois tax incentive money, Rivian has promised to expand the capacity at its Illinois plant from 150,000 units per year to 215,000. Bear in mind that Rivian is currently struggling to sell 50,000 EVs per year.

What does this mean for the “delayed” Rivian plant in Georgia? What it means is that as much as Rivian didn’t need a new plant in Georgia before, it doesn’t need it even more now!

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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