EV manufacturers are backing away slowly from the Great EV Debacle
The government commanded the EV bubble, but even with billions in subsidies, schemes and advertising the chemistry didn’t obey. Somehow, even with legislation, the right discoveries didn’t discover themselves on cue.
VW has decided to use one third of its EV development money to develop a better fuel car instead.
Hey, it’s only 60,000 million Euro.
VW Will Spend Billions of Its EV Development Budget on Gas Engines
By: Adrian Padeanu, Motor1.com
Of the €180 billion ($196 billion) set aside in 2023 primarily for next-generation EVs, the German brand will now use one-third to continue the development of combustion engines. The announcement comes from Arno Antlitz, the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer at the Volkswagen Group. The company intends to spend roughly €60 billion ($65 billion) to “keep our combustion cars competitive.”
It’s a stark departure from the previous plan announced in late 2022 to build and sell only electric cars in Europe from 2033.
Only a year ago Volkswagon was confident it could build a cheaper EV. But a month ago they reported a 20 percent fall in first quarter profits.
Meanwhile Australia joins the EU with footage of “EV Graveyards” collecting at Port Melbourne
Australia remains far behind the rest of the developed world in EV sales but is obviously catching up on the latest trends quickly. Sales have fallen 44%:
Nobody wants them 🤣
Demand for Tesla’s plummeted 44% in April resulting in thousands of them being parked at Port Melbourne pic.twitter.com/OtBtgQeJVi
— Kanga 🦘 (@TruthKanga) June 3, 2024
And, apparently even those with money to waste don’t want to waste it on an “electric supercar”:
Lamborghini Doesn’t Think Electric Supercars will Catch On
By: Adrian Padeanu, Motor1.com
Speaking with Automotive News Europe, Lamborghini’s head honcho Stephan Winkelmann argued electric supercars are “not something that is selling so far.” He went on to mention this genre might never catch on
Supercars are for rich folk but Rimac CEO Mate Rimac recently admitted that high-end buyers don’t want electric supercars. It’s why the Nevera is still for sale, despite the hype around it and the limited production run of only 150 cars. The electric hypercar developed in Croatia set no fewer than 23 records last year, but it looks as though wealthy people weren’t impressed enough to sign their names on the dotted line.
There is talk now of all kinds of variations of sustainable fuel to run combustion engines on. The CEO of Bugatti has even floated the idea of selling their bespoke customers their very own fuel station as well, so they can generate and fill their sustainable cars at home. Possibly the brag-able-value of owning a sustainable biofuel car that “charges at home” using some wildly expensive combination of solar panels and batteries won’t seem so brag-worthy in a few years time. Who wants to look like the loser who got car advice from a teenage girl?