Re: General Motors quietly closed the door this week on a goal to make only electric vehicles by 2035.

Catrike Ryder <Soloman@old.bikers.org> wrote:

 
GM is also shifting some of it's production from Mexico to Michigan to
avoid the tariffs and will produce V-8 engines.
 
My wife and I have a long history of V-8 cars and trucks. She's driven
our new-to-us truck more than I have, and when she starts it and hears
the rumble of the 5 liter engine, she looks over at me with a big
grin.
 
When we talked about going down to one vehicle she was very adamant
about it being a full size truck. Our need of having a full size rear
seat and a big enough bed to hold our two Catrikes made that a
requirement, and going electric was out of the question.
 
Apparently, we're not alone in that decision.
 
"In May, the Detroit automaker said it would ditch plans to make
electric motors at its Towanda Production plant in Buffalo, New York,
and instead spend $888 million to make V-8 engines."
 
<https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/12/gm-slow-rolls-ev-aspirations-00401177>
 
“Now the hype is dwindling, and companies are again cheering consumer
choice. Automakers from Ford Motor and General Motors to
Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin are
scaling back or delaying their electric vehicle plans,” it added.
 

This is more about government deadlines, internal combustion engines very
much into marginal gains, and needs much less investment ie profits are
higher, so as the mandates are 2035 so ten years to go, and possibly US
will lag behind that.

That’s not consumer demand or lack but companies making financial
decisions, ie it’s cheaper for them to sell ICE cars than developing EV
technology.

Too bad the electric bicycle manufacturers don't do the same.

Really very different use case, a car is well a car. And generally are much
more homogeneous.

E bikes do offer a different but similar experience or at least can do, a E
MTB for example handles differently to a MTB due to the increase weight and
that it proportionally more sprung weight, some of it is good others not,
and likewise it’s spurred on the dockless bikes for utility cycling and so
on.

It’s really very different!

 
--
C'est bon
Soloman
 

Roger Merriman