NEW YORK, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Ford Motor's decision this week to kill a highly touted future electric vehicle is a sign that the industry's pullback on electric vehicles is deepening, reported The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Thursday.
The Dearborn, Michigan, automaker said on Wednesday it is canceling plans for an electric, family-hauler sport-utility vehicle that Chief Executive Jim Farley once touted as a "personalized bullet train." The move added to the drumbeat of news from carmakers of delayed or scrapped investments into EV models, factories and battery projects.
General Motors, Volkswagen, Mercedes and other automakers also have curbed their EV ambitions in recent months. "Taken together, the walked-back plans are an acknowledgment that the big investments outlined at the start of the decade got ahead of the consumer's appetite for a full switch to EVs," noted the report.
While surveys have shown that as many as half of U.S. consumers are open to buying an electric car, their relatively high prices and concerns over charger availability are dissuading many. EV sales in the United States and other regions are still growing, but the pace of the increase has decelerated sharply, despite many new models hitting the market, according to the report.
"Delaying some EV investments will conserve cash and buy automakers time to lower their battery costs and other EV-related expenses, analysts say. The moves also will hurt major parts suppliers, which have to adjust their businesses," it said.
The cost of batteries is so high that most big automakers are losing money on their electric offerings. Ford's EV business is on pace to lose about 5 billion U.S. dollars this year. In the quarter that ended on June 30, it lost an average of about 44,000 dollars per electric vehicle sold, it added.
