The article discusses how some traditional car manufacturers are slowing down their transition to electric vehicles despite growing demand and market trends. It highlights Italy's resistance to EU EV regulations and Honda's reluctance to invest in EVs, citing charging infrastructure concerns as an excuse.
When there’s just the slightest dip in electric vehicle growth, we get to see the spiders come out of the baseboards. We’re not even talking about EV sales decline. We’re just talking slower EV sales. Nonetheless, a handful of legacy automakers have taken the opportunity to pooh-pooh the transition to EVs and even cut back on their EV transition plans.
Two popped up in recent weeks who I have to admit do not surprise me at all.This first one makes me think of a vivid experience I once had at a cleantech conference. It was an event in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and I was seated at a fancy table next to someone from Italy. The primary focus at the broader event was renewable energy, but electric vehicles were already rising as serious transportation options. Somehow, we got onto the topic of EVs, and he was very skeptical EVs could ever become popular. I was dumbfounded and taken aback by his position and some of the arguments he was making. He talked alt fuels and had a clearly limited take on charging, driving range, and EV battery development. That conversation has stuck with me when thinking about Italy’s slow-walk into an EV future over the past several years. It also reminded me of Sergio Marchionne, the former CEO of Fiat and FCA who was adamantly opposed to electric vehicles. There is something in the auto culture, and perhaps broader culture, in Italy that is very strongly anti-EV.this month that the 2035 ban on gasoline engines in the EU is “absurd” and “must be changed.” There is apparently strong lobbying from Italy going on on this matter.Notably, EV adoption started rising in Italy like in other countries in Europe, but then it pulled back the policies supporting that and had things go in the opposite direction. It’s also noteworthy that the country is currently led by a right-wing government. For some reason, right-wing governments across the West are typically opposed to strong climate action and have an affiliation with fossil fuels.Honda has been in contention for the “Biggest EV Laggard Award” for years. It has taken slow-walking to an all new level, like the sloth in. And it apparently has no shame in that regard. In fact, the company may still be doing its best to win that award.last month that “You can’t force the customer to change their mind we just can’t force the people living in, say, the Midwest, with no charging stations.” First of all, there are charging stations in the Midwest, a lot of them. Secondly, Honda isn’t anywhere close to forcing anyone. The company wouldn’t build a real electric car for years upon years, even as EVs rose to a major portion of auto sales.. Or, to be more business-y about it, Honda’s IP and auto development is tied up in non-electric automobiles and the company is far behind other automakers in trying to develop EVs. So, yes, naturally, they don’t want the EV transition to speed up, or to happen at all.Maybe Honda will come around in a couple of years when it has its own homegrown EVs selling and finally has a horse in the race. At the event where these comments were made, the 2024 Monterey Car Week, “Acura revealed athat previews one of the first EVs to come from the luxury automaker on the in-house developed Honda 0 platform. The production version will roll off the assembly line at the automaker’s Marysville Auto Plant in Ohio in 2025,”writes. Also, “Honda’s currently underway with a $700 million retooling effort at three of its plants along with a $3.5 billion battery plant all for U.S. EV mass production. The moves could position Laggards will be laggards. However, when a transition is inevitable, laggards either have to join the crowd eventually or go bankrupt and join the dustbin of history.CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla , NIO , Xpeng , Ford , ChargePoint , Amazon , Piedmont Lithium , Lithium Americas , Albemarle Corporation , Nouveau Monde Graphite , Talon Metals , Arclight Clean Transition Corp , and Starbucks . But he does not offer investment advice of any sort.
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