What was the price of climate alarmism for Ford? Almost $20 billion. That’s a high price for woke ideology.
Many of us average Americans could have told Ford before they ever boosted electric vehicle (EV) manufacture that it would be a boondoggle. A fairly specific number of people ever wanted EVs, and that select number is declining now even among leftists. EVs are expensive, inefficient, disastrous in winter, and prone to malfunctions. They limit vehicular range and independence. Why would millions more Americans want them?
CNBC reported the hard hit: “[Ford] expects to record about $19.5 billion in special items related to a restructuring of its business priorities and a pullback in its all-electric vehicle investments.”
Just like Ford's EV push, the Paris climate accord is a failure. Ten years and $10 trillion later, it has accomplished absolutely nothing of value, and emissions have increased 12%. They will continue to increase, because major polluters such as Communist China are stepping up coal and gas. The good news is, there is no climate crisis. The bad news is, the U.S. government and many other governments have wasted vast amounts of taxpayer money on the climate alarmist lie. The doom-prophesying insanity always comes at a steep cost.
Read Also: $14B and Zero Progress Later, California Drops High-Speed Rail Lawsuit
Like every other "solution" proposed by climate alarmists, EVs depend on abusive labor, including slave and child labor, in Africa and China. Indeed, Communist China absolutely dominates the rare earths mining and refining so necessary for EV batteries.
Climate Depot explained how EVs are dependent on government subsidies, and even then can’t compare in the free market with gas vehicles:
The administration of former President Joe Biden put quite a few of its figurative eggs in the EV basket, under the larger mission goal of lessening U.S. emissions and helping the environment.
The Biden administration offered unsustainable subsidization to producers and consumers to try and prop up a market for EVs, but even that wasn’t enough for their dreams to be visualized.
Then there's the fact that EV batteries are extremely toxic to manufacture and to dispose of, not to mention they are more prone to catch fire and can have shorter battery life than those for gas-powered cars. Furthermore, overall emissions for EVs can equal or even exceed gas-powered cars.
And you don't want to drive an EV in the winter. I recently highlighted the complaints from New York parents saying their kids' EV school buses are very prone to breakdowns, and cannot sustain in-vehicle heaters. This is not an anomaly, it's a feature. Charging Advisor admits that colder weather can indeed impact “EV battery performance, range reduction, and charging speeds.” Among its recommendations are the following: “Use heated seats and steering wheel instead of cabin heating" and “Set cabin temperature 2-3°F lower than usual.”
Finally, the irony of EVs is that "green" energy cannot provide enough electricity to charge them all, so they inevitably have to fall back on more reliable energy such as coal and gas.
In sum, Ford was extremely foolish to invest so much money and resources in an EV push that was always doomed to failure, even before the withdrawal of federal financial life support.
