{"id":299874,"date":"2024-02-05T11:54:55","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T10:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=299874"},"modified":"2024-02-05T11:55:01","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T10:55:01","slug":"the-wests-humiliating-electric-car-climbdown-has-begun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=299874","title":{"rendered":"The West\u2019s humiliating electric car climbdown has begun"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ambitious plans for an electrification-led industrial revolution are in full-scale retreat.<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

France\u2019s President Macron had a plan to make millions of electric vehicles a year. Chancellor Scholz planned to put 15 million on Germany\u2019s roads by 2030. President Biden trumped the lot with a $174bn (\u00a3138bn) plan to make the US the world leader. Even Boris Johnson \u2013 remember him \u2013 had a \u00a31bn plan to beef up our charging network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rewind only a couple of years, and almost every president or prime minister was making electric vehicles the cornerstone of an industrial strategy. And yet, this week we have learned that Renault is abandoning plans to separately list its electric vehicle (EV) and software business, while Volvo is\u00a0winding down its Polestar electric sports car subsidiary.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Telegraph<\/a> has the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reality, amid an onslaught of Chinese competition, and falling sales, the West\u2019s electric vehicle dream is quickly unravelling \u2013 and we need to relearn all the lessons in why grand, state-led industrial strategies never work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was not so long ago that countries were competing furiously to launch battery-powered visions of the future. With Tesla riding the wave of green demand to become the world\u2019s largest car manufacturer, measured by market value if not volume, and with ambitious net zero targets to meet, they all wanted to make sure they could compete in electric vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We would reduce carbon emissions, create many jobs, and shore up our industrial base. Sure, governments would have to commit a few billions \u2013 or tens of billions \u2013 to make it happen. But it would pay for itself many times over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, right now, plans for an EV-led industrial revolution<\/a> are in full-scale retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renault, despite the programme of state support, has this week scrapped the separate listing of its EV unit Ampere, which has been scheduled for the first half of the year. It was a \u201cpragmatic decision\u201d according to the company\u2019s chief executive Luca de Meo, arguing that falling sales for EVs across Europe meant the market was more challenging than forecast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, Volvo announced that it would stop funding its EV unit, Polestar, and might even offload its 48pc stake on other shareholders, including China\u2019s Geely. Last September, Volkswagen said it was cutting production of two of its flagship EV models, while in November, Ford said it was scaling back its battery plant in Michigan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It looks like all those \u201cwell-paid green jobs\u201d are going to take a little longer to arrive than anyone anticipated. As for the payback on huge sums various governments have \u201cinvested\u201d in the industry, it looks like the returns on that money will take a while to come through as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is nothing wrong with EVs themselves. They are often great as run-arounds for dense urban environments, and as long as the raw materials are sourced correctly, and the chargers are not powered by coal-burning generators, they are probably a little better for the environment than the petrol version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If people want them, then that\u2019s great. The trouble with the industry right now is that demand is falling because the vehicles cost far more than anyone expected,<\/a> and what market there is will be captured by Chinese manufacturers such as BYD that can make vehicles far more cheaply than anyone in the West can. The result? A lot of government money will be wasted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a lesson in the humiliating climbdown. State-led industrial strategies never work. Indeed, the failure of the drive into EV is a textbook example of everything that goes wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

France\u2019s President Macron had a plan to make millions of electric vehicles a year. Chancellor Scholz planned to put 15 million on Germany\u2019s roads by 2030. President Biden trumped the lot with a $174bn (\u00a3138bn) plan to make the US the world leader. Even Boris Johnson \u2013 remember him \u2013 had a \u00a31bn plan to beef up our charging network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":299880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"France\u2019s President Macron had a plan to make millions of electric vehicles a year. Chancellor Scholz planned to put 15 million on Germany\u2019s roads by 2030. President Biden trumped the lot with a $174bn (\u00a3138bn) plan to make the US the world leader. Even Bo","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818341,691818076,691821977,691823280,691826729,691818154],"class_list":{"0":"post-299874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-china","9":"tag-co2","10":"tag-electric-vehicles-evs","11":"tag-industrial-revolution","12":"tag-industrial-strategies","13":"tag-net-zero","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/OIG-2023-11-01T122744.406.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1g0G","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":403578,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=403578","url_meta":{"origin":299874,"position":0},"title":"Europe\u2019s Impossible Choice: AI Development or Net Zero?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"20\/09\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This year, European nations announced plans to pursue artificial intelligence. 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H\/T John Ray G7 leaders during a working session at the G7 summit in Schloss Elmau on June 28, 2022 near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau via Pool\/Getty Images) Germany looked\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/0feature_g7_crop.jpg?fit=990%2C369&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/0feature_g7_crop.jpg?fit=990%2C369&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/0feature_g7_crop.jpg?fit=990%2C369&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/0feature_g7_crop.jpg?fit=990%2C369&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":247647,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=247647","url_meta":{"origin":299874,"position":4},"title":"Germany’s Coming Green Energy “Economic Miracle”","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"15\/03\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Heat pumps that run on electricity at 5 times U.S. prices, and then don\u2019t keep you warm on the coldest days of the winter. 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The death sentence was unanimously handed down by a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Chancellor Scholz\"","block_context":{"text":"Chancellor Scholz","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=chancellor-scholz"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/00RIP-tombstone.jpeg?fit=1044%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/00RIP-tombstone.jpeg?fit=1044%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/00RIP-tombstone.jpeg?fit=1044%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/00RIP-tombstone.jpeg?fit=1044%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=299874"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":299882,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299874\/revisions\/299882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/299880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=299874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=299874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=299874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}