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Does anyone remember 3D TV? The next wave of home entertainment, superseding plasma screens and OLED TVs, and all that old junk. Then, it just disappeared from showrooms faster than a laserdisc copy of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
The hype around 3D TV coincided with a similar fad for 3D cinema — about the third attempt, by my memory, to foist 3D onto the moviegoing public. And with about as much longevity as the others.
The hype around electric cars is proving to be about as short-lived.
Tesla plans to lay off more than 10% of its global workforce, news site Electrek reported Monday, April 15, publishing an email from Chief Executive Elon Musk announcing the cuts. The job reductions are needed after rapid growth that has led to duplication of roles, Musk said in the email to staff, according to Electrek, an online news site focused on electric vehicles (EV). “There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done,” Musk said. “This will enable us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle.”
It couldn’t have anything to do with plummeting EV sales, surely?
The move comes about 10 days after Tesla reported a drop in first-quarter auto deliveries in a report that disappointed investors. Musk’s company has also undertaken a series of price cuts on EVs in response to rising competition among producers and slowing demand growth in some markets […]
Tesla late last year began deliveries of the Cybertruck, a space age-inspired vehicle that Musk has praised while warning that it would take time to ramp production to reach profitability. Shares of Tesla closed 5.6% lower on Monday.
Le Monde
Tesla isn’t the only manufacturer scaling back or cutting EV production altogether. Even hiring giant Hertz is dumping its EV fleet.
And, while Western governments continue to pour money into EV charging stations, that, too, is looking like yet another losing bet.
BP has cut over a tenth of the workforce in its electric vehicle charging business and pulled it out of several markets after a bet on rapid growth in commercial EV fleets didn’t pay off, company sources said.
The changes at BP Pulse are part of CEO Murray Auchincloss‘s efforts to focus on the British company’s most profitable segments as it battles investor doubts over its plan to shift away from oil and gas to low-carbon energy.
As I’ve written many times before, Big Oil might be many things, but stupid isn’t one of them. If EVs really were such a winner, they’d be rushing to corner the market. Instead, they’re walking away.
There’s something notable about the few markets BP still sees for EV charging stations.
BP Pulse in recent months reduced the number of countries it focuses on from 12 to four – the United States, Britain, Germany and China – where it expects the fastest growth in the EV market, BP told Reuters.
It also earmarked Australia, New Zealand and France as growth countries, it said.
No doubt because “Net Zero” deranged governments continue to throw taxpayer money at them.
BP Pulse has also stepped away from several bets it made since launching its energy transition strategy under previous group CEO Bernard Looney in 2020.
BP initially expected commercial car fleets would be first and fastest to switch to EVs at scale, but that did not pan out, in part because governments eased mandates for switching to EV vehicles, Auchincloss told analysts in February.
Reuters
If EVs really are so great, why do we have to be forced to buy the damn things?
Instead, it seems like EVs are going to become the Betamax VCRs of the next decade.
