In a move that has shocked journalists but not real people, Volvo has abandoned its goal of only offering electric vehicles to customers worldwide by 2030. It belongs six feet under along with the company’s ridiculous goal from a few years ago of zero fatalities in its cars.
Government incompetence kept a stolen car out of the hands of its rightful owner for 13 years.
There’s an old saying that if you shoot for the stars and miss, you might land on the moon, or something like that. While we generally agree with that concept, we don’t think setting goals devoid from the realities of existence count as shooting at the stars. Instead, that’s just being foolish.
And far too many automakers have engaged in the groupthink experiment which has been the electrification push. It’s easy to get swept up in jumping on the bandwagon, but eventually reality crashes the party, overturning everything.
All this doesn’t mean Volvo is reversing course and offering SUVs with a thumping V8 engine again. No, don’t be ridiculous, the Swedes now say they’re expecting to be selling EVs and hybrids only by 2030.
Volvo of course isn’t going to get into all the details about why it’s scrapped the goal, so everyone naturally is speculating about what led to the shift. There are a million takes on this, but it’s being driven in part by demand for EVs falling off a cliff.
That angers EV enthusiasts who doggedly cling to data which supposedly indicates basically everyone wants to own a Tesla or some other toaster on wheels. Obviously, that’s not true, but they sure love believing the lie.
But that surely isn’t the only reason. As the global environment shifts, China is flexing its muscles when it comes to resources necessary for EV production, putting future production in peril. We saw that one coming, but groupthink didn’t allow many to acknowledge what was a looming reality.
The sheer upfront cost of EVs, combined with questionable ownership costs and overall value, has also cooled things. So has the lack of many public charging options in quite a few areas. The list goes on, but we’ll stop there.
Basically, what all this boils down to is the old principle that companies can’t truly dictate market forces, especially in the long run. They can try pressuring the government to enforce restrictions, but ultimately everyday people are the ones who rule open markets. And a lot of them aren’t interested in EVs for a number of reasons.
Image via Volvo
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