Car giant Ford has cut production of electric vehicles (EVs) due to a collapse in demand. Last year, the company debuted its F-150 Lightening pick-up truck and planned to produce 200,000 over the following 12 months. In mid-December, however, it announced that production would drop by half.
CEO Jim Farley described the truck as a “test for the adoption of the electric vehicle,” and experts now say Ford’s dramatic reduction is an ominous sign for the industry’s future. Mr. Farley said the EV demand his company expected has not come to fruition and blamed high costs and an insufficient charging infrastructure.
Figures from January 2023 suggest around 160,000 charging stations across the United States and more than 233 million drivers. According to analysts McKinsey and Company, the US will need to multiply the number of stations by 20 – to 1.2 million public and 28 million private stations – by 2030 if government targets are to be reached. Even if that happened, the group says, it likely would still not be enough.
Another component in the EV market fall is cost, as the average price tag is as high as $72,000. Cheaper versions range at around $30,000, but running costs are also higher than gasoline cars on average, and installing private charging stations can run to several thousand dollars.
As of July 2023, the Biden administration estimated that there were around 3 million EVs in the US, with sales growing annually until they hit a slump in the latter part of the year. Auto industry consulting firm Motorintelligence.com said sales in November accounted for 7.5% of the total and will have to grow significantly to meet government targets. The group estimates that falling gas prices to $3 a gallon nationwide have also hit the industry.
A car dealer in Pittsburgh, Richard Bazzy, told Motorintelligence that his customers are “not ready” to transition to electric cars, partly because they fear the vehicles will not be as powerful as the gasoline alternative.
