9 Consequential Energy Predictions - Midyear Review

As has been my habit for a dozen years as a contributor at Forbes, it is time to conduct a midyear review of the annual energy predictions I made at the first of the current year in a piece titled “9 Consequential Energy Predictions For 2024.” It’s a little past time, actually, but a series of life events intervened. Better late than never.

So, let’s just review those 9 predictions in the order they were made and see how we’re doing so far:

Non-Tesla automakers will be pressured by investors to scale back EV plans further.

The basic premise of this prediction was that legacy automakers like Ford, GM and Stellantis would be forced by investor pressures to scale back and revise their EV development and production plans and goals.

This certainly has happened so far in 2024, with the most consequential shifts coming at Ford. After suffering massive losses in the first quarter of 2024, Ford management announced it would delay billions of dollars in EV-related investments, along with plans to scale back plans to introduce new battery electric car models in favor of introducing a set of hybrid cars instead.