People need to remember that the car companies would be very happy if the whole EV transition went away.
They don’t want to do it.
They never did want to do it.
Anything they did do was only to meet impending legislation which they were simultaneously trying to lobby against.
Due to battery tech back then they had an easy time showing it wasn’t practical, hydrogen was presented to be a better choice. But they couldn’t meet timelines so it was “give us 10-15 years”. 5 years later it was “give us 10-15 years” and so on forever.
It was never going to come.
Tesla exists only because GM killed off the EV1. If they had stuck with it, as Musk says, released EV2, EV3 etc he would have bought one of those. The engineers working at GM and their partners would still be there and the sports car that later became a real product via Musk would never have been started and even if it was would never have become an actual real business based on the people managing the company. And even if it did they would have been squished by GM.
The legacy car companies and oil industry should have seen the writing on the wall the moment the model s came out at the latest. I know I did.
The fact Tesla was allowed (by them competitively) to grow as it did and, build a proper charging network, is amazing to me. By the time the model 3 got through manufacturing he’ll and profits started to come in there should have been crisis meetings at every legacy auto maker. But they still dragged their feet.
And yes, forcing EA to build a network but not maintain the service is insanity. I can only assume they weren’t forced to hand over the money to the government to build it due to philosophical differences in the US re capitalism and not having the gov compete with private business.
It shows just how the car makers were very confident Tesla would fail and the whole thing would go away and be business as usual.
Even the oil companies didn’t panic and start putting chargers in their gas stations as they obviously thought it wasn’t a threat to that business.
Even when these companies have done something, it’s been limited availability product at naturally high prices. They complain they can’t make money on them but they’re not mass producing them. Almost any non Tesla EV has a waiting list and limited production numbers per year. They say car “X” is sold out but they won’t reveal how many that is. Then later when sales figures get released you can see they’re barely selling any. But they’re not sitting on lots, if you go to the dealer and try and order one it’s back ordered for months.
I personally think the car companies, many of whom are involved in EA, are putting out limited poor product on purpose and hoping the few that do buy them will be so dissatisfied they will come back and trade for a gas car. I am very suspicious of the EA network and I think the non EA ones are just building businesses based on government subsidies which they hope to eventually sell.
Tesla Model Y is l now the number one selling “car” in the world. Of any kind.
In the USA the model Y is the number 1 EV and the model 3 is the number of 3.
The 2nd place model 3 sells more than all the other car companies EVs combined. The Y sells more than every other EV including the model 3 combined.
Tesla may be losing market share, but if I sold 1 million EVs last year and was the only one selling them, then this year I sell 2 million but one company sells a single car, I still lost market share.
In reality despite a growing field, Tesla sales, which are already dominating the market, have increased 50% last quarter via the prior year, and everyone else, on much lower actual numbers, have dropped or only grown by like 20%.
The legacy industry is in crisis. It may already be too late for them.
And it’s not because Tesla are somehow exploiting a monopoly position, it’s because the others aren’t really trying.
I fully expect the legacy automakers to go bankrupt and get bailed out again. And the government will. Which is not fair to Tesla or the tax payer. If they fail, let them fail, millions of jobs or not. This is self inflicted irresponsible behavior paying themselves and share holders bonuses on a business they think is going to implode.
I don’t believe half of Musks “for humanity” claims, and I don’t like monopolies, but the reality is they have made good cars and a charging infrastructure that is so far ahead of everyone else it isn’t even funny.
Should they be punished for a monopoly position created not through aggressive take overs but through incompetence and apathy by their competitors? I don’t think so…
And as for trusting Musk, what’s the alternative? Do I trust the liars at GM, Toyota etc who all said this stuff couldn’t be done and keep making giant SUV’s and over priced trucks? And an oil industry that has lied for decades?l and caused who knows how many health problems and deaths? And is supported by tax payers money and endless wars in the Middle East that create terrorism?
I’ll take Musk and his unpalatable views over that lot any day…