Tag: Electric and Hybrid Vehicles

A New Law Supercharged Electric Car Manufacturing, but Not Sales

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President Biden’s signature climate law has stimulated a surge of investment in electric vehicle production across the country, including tens of billions of dollars on battery plants across the South and new assembly lines near the Great Lakes. Based on early evidence, it is succeeding at a goal that economists have long considered difficult and costly: using the power of government to rapidly grow a new industry. That growth could prove crucial for the other side of the electric vehicle equation: enticing more consumers to buy them. That’s because Mr.…

Tesla’s Price Cuts Lowered Its Profit

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Tesla’s profit slumped in the third quarter after the carmaker cut prices to maintain its dominance of the market for electric vehicles. The company reported a net profit of $1.9 billion from July through September. That compared with $2.7 billion in the second quarter and $3.3 billion a year earlier. The company has slashed prices by around 25 percent in the United States during the last year, putting the priority on sales rather than profit. The least expensive version of Tesla’s best selling car, the Model Y sport utility vehicle,…

Why Trump and the Rest of the G.O.P. Won’t Stop Bashing Electric Vehicles

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Fresh off a walking tour of blighted Flint, Mich., on Wednesday, Vivek Ramaswamy spoke excitedly about a comeback for the “forgotten America” that he has made a part of his long-shot bid for the presidency. He wasn’t promising that the automakers that had largely abandoned Flint would return. “We have opportunities, though, to look to the future of a lot that we need to bring to this country,” Mr. Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old entrepreneur, said, ticking through the industries that he’d like to see help drive a revival: semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, defense…

Nio Loses $35,000 a Car. That Should Scare the U.S. and Europe.

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Nio, a Chinese electric car company that competes with Tesla, employs 11,000 people in research and development, but sells a mere 8,000 cars per month. It has invested so extensively in robots that one of its factories employs just 30 technicians to make 300,000 electric car motors a year. Nio offers $350 augmented reality glasses for each seat in its cars, and has introduced a cellphone that interacts with the car’s self-driving system. And none of it is profitable — far from it. Nio lost $835 million from April through…

A Rural Michigan Town Is the Latest Battleground in the U.S.-China Fight

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Yard signs along the quiet country roads of Green Charter Township, Mich., home to horse farms and a 19th-century fish hatchery, blare a message that an angered community hopes is heard by local leaders, the Biden administration and China: “No Gotion.” The opposition is to a plan by Gotion, a subsidiary of a Chinese company, to build a $2.4 billion electric vehicle battery factory on roughly 270 acres of largely uninhabited scrub land. An investment of that magnitude can transform a local economy, but in this case it is unwelcome…

Tesla Sales Slip as It Readies Factories for New Models

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Sales of Tesla electric cars slipped from July through September after the company paused production at some factories to upgrade assembly lines. The company delivered 435,000 vehicles worldwide in the third quarter, down from 466,000 in the second quarter. Wall Street analysts had expected the decline, which they attributed to production slowdowns as Tesla refitted factories in the United States and China. Still, the dip in sales may renew concerns that demand for Tesla cars is slackening even after the company cut prices. In China, Tesla is trying to fend…

European Union Will Investigate Chinese Subsidies of Electric Cars

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The European Union will begin an investigation into Chinese subsidies of electric vehicles, the bloc’s top official announced Wednesday, in a move that highlights Europe’s growing industrial and geopolitical competition with China. Chinese automakers have gained a dominant position in the world’s electric vehicles industry and see Europe as a big potential market. Automakers in Europe, who are racing to expand their battery-powered lineups, have expressed concern that they face tough competition against low-priced models from China. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, announced the initiative…

China Is Full of Risk For U.S. Companies

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For decades, America’s corporate chieftains saw China as a money spinner. They gushed about its hundreds of millions of consumers, called it “one of the biggest opportunities” and made predictions that this would be “China’s century.” Now, those executives have come away from recent visits to the country with a more sober view. Western companies doing business in China are facing pressures that were unimaginable several years ago. The country’s economy is floundering and its relationship with the United States is strained. Three years of border restrictions and an effective…

Toyota’s Dominance Threatened by Rise of Electric Vehicles

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Rachel Culin considered herself a Toyota loyalist, one of millions of people who appreciated the company’s reliable and fuel-efficient hybrids. But she recently bought an electric Chevrolet Bolt to replace her Toyota Prius because the Japanese automaker had been too slow when it came to selling electric vehicles. “Where are the options for those people who love Toyota?” Ms. Culin, a resident of Mesa, Ariz., said. “It’s really sad.” Once the leading brand for environmentally conscious car owners, Toyota has failed to keep up with changing consumer preferences and a…

China Is Flooding the World With Car Exports

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At a time when many of China’s exports are faltering and its consumers are spending less at home, the country is flooding the world with cars. Overseas demand for inexpensive vehicles made in China, mostly gasoline-powered models that Chinese consumers now shun in favor of electric cars, is so great that the biggest obstacle to selling more abroad is a lack of specialized ships to carry them. Chinese automakers have leaped to dominance in Russia since war began in Ukraine, transporting cars by train. The companies have also captured large…