Of more concern to Ford is the increasing doubt over horseless carriages ever totally replacing horse-drawn vehicles.
The severe winter underscored a lot of problems, notably the obvious road surface problems and how we could possibly expect to power ALL carriages with gasoline we are not capable of producing. Add to that the tremendous built in inefficiency of an affordable nationwide fueling system. Also of note: horselesss carriages are much harder to crank in harsh winter temperatures. It is most likely Ford will dominate the automobile market, but we will need other technologies to ever totally replace the horse-drawn carriage.
Yeah, these problems just can't be solved by ramping up solutions in any practical timeframe. I think Ford really is overenthusiastic about a technology that may just remain a pursuit of the most affluent.
Just like the fully autonomous cars that we were all supposed to be driving by now I think EVs are just going to take longer to become mainstream than the media would like us to believe.
A silent majority in the auto industry share the view but they think it is the trend, so they cannot speak out loudly. CEO Akio Toyoda of Toyota
The Biden administration seems to believe that millions of Americans will rush out to buy electric vehicles if only the government throws enough subsidies at them. They are not and Tesla sales last year slumped badly.
The State of Maine told Federal Highway Administration this summer that
cold temperatures will remain a top challenge for adoption, since cold weather reduces EV range and increases charging times.
When temperatures drop to 5 degrees Fahrenheit, the cars achieve only 54% of their quoted range. A vehicle that is supposed to be able to go 250 miles between charges will make it only 135 miles on average.
At 32 degrees a typical winter day in much of the country a Tesla Model 3 that in ideal conditions can go 282 miles between charges will make it only 173 miles.
Imagine if 100 million Americans were driving electric cars over this past winter holiday. How many would have been stranded as temperatures plunged?
And, as many trade journals have pointed out, Federal funds also come with many rules, including
buy America procurement requirements, which demand that chargers consist of mostly U.S. made components which could delay implementation by several years since only a few manufacturers can currently meet them. .
The State of New York New York says it will be challenging to comply with the web of federal rules, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, and a 1960 federal law that bars charging stations in rest areas.
Oh, and labor rules. The administration requires that electrical workers who install and maintain the stations be certified by the union backed Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program. New Mexico says much of the state lacks contractors that meet this mandate, which will reduce competition and increase costs.
Poll
