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Originally Posted by redpoint5
None of that explains selling EVs now when you don't have to. I expect them to lose money like all the non-Teslas. The mandate will turn into a suggestion before 2035.
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As I added above - different manufacturers are in different places with ZEV credits. Then there is also CAFE to consider - and emissions. Of those emission are the only real mandate with ZEV and CAFE a company can chose to pay the fine instead of meeting the regulation.
There is nothing magical about how Tesla makes money with EVs - they sell enough to get over the hump and have enough economy of scale to make money on EVs. Other companies have started making the investments needed to get to that point.
Then there is the effect of the global market. The USA is way behind China and Europe on EV and PHEV adoption. Companies that participate in those markets can draw on that R&D and volume to reach that break even point and then profitability
Until very recently GM's largest market was China. China is fast approaching 50% BEV / PHEV market share for new vehicle sales. That helps them with EV profitability in the USA and they must either aggressively pursue EVs or pull out of China and lose 1/2 their sales.
A company like Ford is in a different spot. The have almost fully pulled out of China already and in Europe they are using VW platforms to make their EVs. That doesn't help them much in the US market.
A company like Toyota's largest markets are Japan and the USA. The USA is slow to adopt EVs and Japan so for has no intention to do so. So Toyota has little interest in selling EVs today.
Different market positions / different business decisions.