The Expert Podcast

So what the heck is happening with electric vehicles? EVs had some very disturbing news this week.

First, the value of used EVs is plummeting. Drivers are losing confidence in electric cars. People think that as electric cars become more mainstream, more people would buy them. However, there's a significant issue: a lot of EVs are piling up on dealers' lots and new car lots. Because of this, used EVs are sitting for months without any buyers.

At the same time, Tesla's Model 3s can now be easily found for under $25,000, on sale for a massive discount. If you're in the market for a used electric vehicle, now might be the time to get a good deal.

What else is going on with EVs? Here's the big one: Ford has halted work on its $3.5 billion EV battery plant in Michigan. It's limiting spending on this Blue Oval Battery Park. This is significant because Ford stated they’re not confident about their ability to operate the plant.

What does that mean? Well, they're not sure they even need it. Translation: they're pausing work and limiting construction spending until they're confident about being able to competitively operate the plant. If they build the plant, manufacture a lot of batteries, and nobody needs them, that’s not competitive.

Ford hasn't made a final decision about the plant investment. Translation: they might cancel the entire project. This plant was initially planned to hire 2,500 workers and produce batteries to power 400,000 EVs per year.

Now, Ford is saying they might not need 400,000 EVs per year—it could be less than that. Look, the car market in the U.S. typically sells 12 to 14 million cars annually. 400,000 EVs would be around 5% of that. Ford seems to think that EVs might never go above 10% of the market. Is that what they’re saying?

What’s the last piece of news? They're finding out that EV batteries degrade faster in hot weather. How hot does it have to be? It seems battery degradation starts at around 86°F.

How can you alleviate that problem if you have an EV? One suggestion is to leave the battery half-charged in hot weather to protect it from degradation. But doesn’t that defeat the purpose of owning an EV? If the battery is half-charged, you can’t drive as far.

These kinds of challenges might explain why EV values are dropping and why factories are starting to pull back from electric vehicles.

I know you have an opinion about this. Let us know in the comments what you think, and we'll see you in the next video.