This much we know: New-vehicle sales in the second quarter struggled, up only modestly from the first quarter and down more than 20% from Q2 2021. The reasons are well documented – tight inventory, high prices, consumer sentiment dropping. There were a few positive notes in the Q2 sales numbers, and among them EV sales stood out the most. Sales of battery-powered electric vehicles – pure EVs – jumped to 196,788, a record high and a 13% increase from Q1.
Tesla remains the dominant player in the market. Not the EV market, but the luxury market in total. In Q2, Tesla was the top-selling luxury brand in the U.S., outpacing all the established names: Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, etc. As new EV models continue to enter the market, Tesla’s share of the EV segment is dropping. Last quarter, it fell to 66%, down 9% from Q1. Still, Tesla’s EV share is expected to shrink as the EV market expand. The bigger story is Tesla’s continued growth. Last quarter, the free-wheeling brand from Austin nearly outsold Subaru in the U.S.
Commercial hunters find reaching the waterlogged swamps difficult, so these peat swamp forests remain havens for wildlife. But oil prospecting requires the systematic cutting of thousands of miles of corridors to transport seismic survey equipment. If cut, these corridors will open up every part of the forest, with hunters and then illegal loggers following, dooming this natural sanctuary for wildlife.
It is unclear whether there really are substantial oil deposits beneath the Congo rainforest; if there is enough usable oil, it is also unclear whether getting it from such remote environments to global markets is economically viable. Yet, even if the initial survey revealed no commercial-scale oil deposits, the rainforests’ biodiversity value would still be destroyed.
The economy is a bit wobbly, but General Motors CEO Mary Barra isn’t backing off of an audacious prediction: By the middle of this decade, her company will sell more electric vehicles in the U.S. than Tesla, the global sales leader.
The economy is a bit wobbly, but General Motors CEO Mary Barra isn’t backing off of an audacious prediction: By the middle of this decade, her company will sell more electric vehicles in the U.S. than Tesla, the global sales leader. – ER
Nobody can say that GM isn’t already on their way!
After all, they sold a couple hundred Hummer EVs in the first quarter…
Rob
Former RB and BL Home Fool, Supernova Portfolio Contributor & Maintenance Fool
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
After all, they sold a couple hundred Hummer EVs in the first quarter…
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Earlier today I read a magazine’s road test of the Hummer elec pickup. This “GMC Hummer EV” weighs nearly NINE thousand lbs. Its usable load is 1,300 lbs! According to the Motor Trend article, the battery pack accounts for half of the vehicle’s weight.
You can buy (order?) one today. The prices start above $100,000.
“This infrastructure law with my Build Back Better plan, we’re going to kickstart new batteries, materials and parts production and recycling, boosting the manufacturing of clean vehicles with new loans and new tax credits,” Biden said during the event. “Creating new purchasing incentives for consumers to buy American-made, union-made clean vehicles like the electric Hummer.”
