Electric car crash: The American EV industry has hit the wall

Something big is happening in the US market for battery electric vehicles (EVs), and it isn’t positive for the industry that makes them, or for the Biden administration’s subsidised dreams.

During the final few months of 2023, the market saw sales slowing, unsold electric vehicles piling up on dealer lots, Tesla struggling to get a handful of its much hyped CyberTrucks onto the market after five long years of promises, pure-play EV companies like Fisker teetering on the financial brink, and traditional automakers like Ford and GM announcing delays in their plans and investments for future EV development.

Things have not improved across the first quarter of 2024. If anything, the industry appears to be moving into something of a crisis mode now. 

In recent days we have seen the following:

First: Fisker announced an unheard-of almost 40 per cent price cut for its Ocean SUV model as part of its efforts to draw down inventories and avoid bankruptcy. 

Second, photos of a big EV graveyard outside Detroit, where Ford is housing hundreds of unsold F-150 Lightning EV pickups in the parking lot of the Michigan International Speedway.

Third: Tesla’s CyberTruck has become an object of ridicule as new buyers complain of it breaking down after driving less than a mile off the lot, body rust developing within weeks of taking delivery, and the truck’s ballyhooed bells and whistles, like its $3,000 camping tent, failing to function as advertised.