It’s becoming more apparent the EV revolution won’t be televised — if it isn’t cancelled outright.In what is becoming a reoccurring rerun, Audi became the latest German automaker to pull a U-turn on plans to electrify its entire car vehicle line up by 2026. Instead, it announced on Tuesday that it will continue to offer and make gasoline-powered models for the foreseeable future.Likewise, Apple officially recalled its Special Projects Group that was tasked with designing an EV to rival Tesla. Instead Bloomberg reported the 2,000 employees working on the project will shift over to generative AI and will continue to program automotive software..Apple declined to make an official comment but its shares rose 1% on the news. Its so called Titan was different that conventional EVs in that it was meant to be autonomously driven, but it sent shock waves rippling through an industry segment already experiencing steep losses and rising costs despite massive government subsidies.Analysts speculated Apple pulled the plug because it couldn’t make and sell it for less than USD$100,000..It comes after Mercedes last week abandoned its 2030 electrification goal and said only half of its fleet with consist of EVs by then.“Customers and market conditions will set the pace of the transformation,” it said in its quarterly earnings release. “The company plans to be in a position to cater to different customer needs, whether it’s an all-electric drivetrain or an electrified combustion engine, until well into the 2030s.”Other major North American makers are also scaling back after Ford announced losses of $4.5 billion in its Model e division or nearly $60,000 for every EV sold last year. Likewise GM, Stellantis, Volvo, BMW and even Toyota have all scaled back EV plans or changed them in response to monetary losses and low growth..Despite looming EV mandates, opinion surveys have consistently shown that customers simply aren’t interested in them; a Pew Research survey south of the border found that 63% refuse to even consider buying one. Only 28% of respondents think they’re useful or practical.That comes after Consumer Reports found that EV owners reported 79% more problems with their cars than those with conventional gas powered engines, rising to 146% for plug-in hybrids. The irony is that conventional hybrids had 26% fewer problems than even gas-powered versions.As more electric vehicles come to market and automakers build each model in greater numbers, we are seeing some of them having problems with electric vehicle powertrain motors, electric vehicle charging systems, and electric vehicle batteries.Dan McTeague, a former Liberal cabinet minister (and critic) who is also head of GasWizard, said on Twitter (“X”) that he isn’t surprised."Paging Canadian EV enthusiasts: So let’s see, Toyota, Mercedes and now Audi… The grift is grinding to a halt. Smart people don’t want these unaffordable, subsidizing-sucking energy guzzlers.”
