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The Business of Electric Vehicles
Part 2. Read Part 1 (Geopolitics of EVs). Part 3 coming in November.
In Q2 2019, Americans purchased 4,430,000 passenger cars.
2.1% of those (92,599) were electric vehicles — up from 0.9% in 2016.
Electric Vehicle (EV) sales threaten $4.3 trillion in annual revenue ($3T from gas automakers, $1.3T from gasoline):
To understand what a shift to 100% electric might look like — and whether it’s even possible — we’ll need to understand the three core auto industries: making, dealing (selling & repairing), and fueling.
Finally, we’ll explore two hot topics that influence these industries: Consumer Demand and Executive Compensation.
1. The Making of Vehicles
In 2008, the US Government spent $80 billion of taxpayer money to bail out America’s “Big 3”, with promises that they would become more efficient.
Although they eventually returned all but $10 billion to taxpayers, they’ve failed to become more efficient: Most Americans today choose to buy cars from non-American companies, presumably because they’re better cars.
At the same time, the global auto industry is shrinking as people hold on to cars longer and even opt out of cars entirely (Ford alone is cutting 7,000 jobs).
