Another EV Industry Domino Falls Over

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Key Points:

• Volvo backtracks on its all-electric goal, now aiming for a majority electric fleet by 2030.
• Challenges include a lack of charging infrastructure and consumer hesitation.
• Tesla and Chinese EV makers are the only major players thriving in the EV market.
• Also: There is a changing of the guard, and The Next Nvidia is ready to soar

Doug and Lee discuss Volvo's recent decision to scale back its ambitious plan to go all-electric by the end of the decade, reflecting a broader trend among car manufacturers. Initially, Volvo aimed to transition entirely to electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030, but they have now decided that while the majority of their fleet will be electric, it won't be exclusively so. This decision aligns with similar moves by other car companies, including VW, due to challenges such as insufficient charging infrastructure and consumer reluctance. They note that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and native Chinese EV companies are the only ones currently thriving in the EV market. The conversation highlights the ongoing struggles within the auto industry to meet earlier, overly ambitious EV targets, and the potential impact of tariffs on these plans.

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So we've got Volvo, and Volvo is a long-term, well-regarded car brand.

Very much so.

For decades, was a Swedish company, was sold a few times, is now in the hands of a Chinese car company.

Yep.

And they made the decision about two or three years ago, that management said, we're going to be all electric. We're all in on electric, no gas, no hybrid, over and over and over again.

Well, guess what? Yesterday they said, eh, we don't think so. It'll be a majority of our fleet portfolio at the end of the decade, but it won't be the whole thing.

So what happened here?

You know, everybody threw out these absurd claims, you know, getting egged, egged along by the progressives, you know, all around the world that that this can all happen by twenty thirty.

And it's just it's it's not viable and it's not going to happen.

And it's the same reason, you know, it's it's the same reason they're not seeing the sales in EVs they anticipated.

Why?

There's not enough charging stations and people are reluctant.

To buy an electric vehicle. And you would think in Europe, they'd be far more inclined to do it because Europe's small compared to the United States.

But it's the same, same, same old story.

The same story we've gone ad nauseum around with Ford and with everybody else.

All these grandiose plans of every car being electric is not working out.

And everybody's having to backpedal and change their forward look.

Well, VW just, they walked theirs back.

So it's, I mean, the only good, there are only two good businesses if you're in the car company.

Number one is still Tesla.

They do well in China.

They do well in Europe.

They have forty nine percent of the market in the United States, which is way more than anybody else does.

They may come out with a full self-driving car, a real one.

In China in the next couple months. They want to have one.

He's chatting it up. He's chatting it up. He's chatting it up.

And then the other electric car companies you want to be are the native Chinese car companies.

They're doing very well. If you look at China, it's a big deal. It's not just the largest car market. It's the largest EV market.

But if you're not Tesla or you're not one of the Chinese companies making money selling to the Chinese, you're you're not in good shape.

No.

And it's interesting because, you know, the same thing that's starting to hit in so hard is something that Volvo mentioned is tariffs.

And you can bet that, I mean, maybe they won't be a hundred percent on Volvo EVs, but there'll be thirty-seven, forty percent, something like that.

And that's going to take the, and Volvo's are more expensive anyway.

So that would certainly take them out of the price range of, you know, your average car buyer and, you know, the Birkenstock wearer or whoever.

And also I think slowly but surely the Volvo customer is buying Subarus, you know, because that's kind of the new, you know, trendy car for, you know, that clique of people.

So I think that if they would just stick to their good, reliable, you know, SUVs, which are good.

Their sedans are good. I think they continue to do good.

Well, I think we should come back to this the next time it happens with the car company that move away from EVs.

But I have to tell you something. I can't think of any other car companies that I think they've all done it already.

I don't who's who's left to say, well, we're going to retreat from our Our great position in EVs, everybody's already partially given up on it.

Yeah, they've walked it back.

And, you know, it's probably start because if Washington changes in November, you can bet the tariffs will be across the board on this stuff.

And it's just that there has to be.

And this is there may be a time when this is in place in the world.

But it could be thirty, forty, fifty years from now when there's the complete ability to easily charge a car fast.

The batteries don't weigh so much and, you know, and everything is scaled down.

But that ain't going to be in twenty, thirty or twenty, thirty five.

No.

Well, I'd like to say we're going to come back to this, but we may never.

Well, you're right, but we'll keep a close eye on if there's another possibility.

Stone turns over and another big company says the same thing. But most of them, as you said, Doug, I think they have walked it back.

They have.

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