News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Sales of electric cars up by 43% in 2020 by WorldMaker on Monday January 25, 2021 @03:41PM (#25908516)
Per point 2, all of the German manufacturers now seem to have similar strategy dates. Many other European manufacturers are presumably paying attention as well. Even in the US, GM has signaled they've got their own relatively close date in mind where they expect it to happen, but for many reasons (including hostile US shareholders) have been keeping the specific date close to the chest. They are probably a bit more pessimistic in that date than the German automakers, but they've made it clear the horizon is coming (whether hostile US shareholders like it or not).

Interesting flipside corollaries to points 3 and 4: my opinion is I expect we may see something of a "singularity" slope in the transition sooner than I think a lot of people expect as ICE supply chains (which are quite complex webs) get disrupted and gas infrastructure goes away. Disruptions to the first may cause quick spikes in ICE vehicle costs and maintenance costs from increasing prices for consumers and decreasing supply of ICE-specific auto parts. As for the second issue, gas pumps are already seen as a high maintenance cost rarely profitable loss leader for grocery stores and convenience stores. How long do you think the pumps will be serviced/maintained/made available as demand drops? I certainly expect it might snowball surprisingly quickly whether or not overall oil costs remain at historic lows.

There are no comments on this comment yet.