This week, we have news on Ford, Legislation, Stellantis, and EV Adoption: Our Top EV News for the week of Aug 4, 2022.
Check out the full newsletter for the week which includes more Electric Vehicle News, and also news about Autonomous Vehicles.
Bio: John is the COO at EPG, a company focused on helping electric and autonomous vehicle companies hire the best talent. In addition to these services, EPG puts out an informative weekly newsletter that is now named Mobility EVo. You can sign up for the newsletter here.
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To reach Ford’s big EV goals in under 4 years, CEO Jim Farley has announced plans to reorganize the business into ICE operations and electric vehicle operations. Part of those plans includes a revamp of how they sell cars. It won’t look like Tesla’s direct-to-consumer model, but it does come with a goal of reducing the cost of vehicles by reducing dealer inventories and changing how they market products.
Ford has processed enough car batteries to reach its goal of 600,000 EVs sold annually by the end of 2023. The company’s goals might not be so hard to achieve, in contrast to Wall Street’s analysis. In sales, Ford’s EV sales have jumped 36.6% from August 2021. Industry sales, on average, have decreased by 10.5%. Ford also sold over 60,000 vehicles in July, the first time that has happened this year. We talked about GM last week and Ford this week. Both appear to be heading in the right EV direction.
The Bill
The US Senate plans to expand EV tax credits, resulting in a non-capped $7,500 credit for new vehicles and a $4,000 credit for used vehicles. Great news, right? Well, not completely. There will be caveats. This credit would only be available on cars that are $55,000 or less and trucks that are $80,000 or less.
That’s not all. It’s tied to income as well. If you make over $150,000 as an individual or $300,000 combined, you would not be eligible for this credit. It could be available as an immediate point-of-sale credit though instead of a credit during tax season, so that’s another positive. Some manufacturers are pushing back, such as Rivian. We’ll see where this ends up.
Stellantis Overtakes Tesla
Stellantis overtook Tesla in European EV sales. In the first half of 2022, Stellantis sold 105,413 vehicles, while Tesla sold 78,277. Volkswagen outsold everyone with 116,307 vehicles sold. Stellantis is targeting 200,000 vehicles in the second half of 2022. Stellantis’ best seller was the Fiat 500e, which was also the best-selling fully electric car in Western Europe in the second quarter.
Although Tesla’s total sales dropped, the Model Y led with 39,969 sales, with the Model 3 following close behind with 38,280 sales. Tesla expects third-quarter sales to rise as lockdowns in China end, production in Berlin increases, and semiconductor supply issues get better.
States Leading the Way
Five states make up nearly 60% of the USA’s EV registration rate. Can you guess the five? They are:
- California - 38.9%
- Florida - 6.7%
- Texas - 5.4%
- Washington State - 4.4%
- New York - 3.6%
Overall, 4.6% of new vehicles registered in the United States were electric in May 2022. That’s more than double the amount of EVs registered in May 2021. It’s still a small amount but heading in the right direction.
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