Electric vehicles (EVs) brought a revolution in the automobile world with great enthusiasm from people across the world towards the EV products. The EV sales also witnessed significant rise and record numbers across various markets around the world. While demand for some EV models remain high, some seems to be on the verge of shut down as the it has not shown performance in terms of demand as before.
Though, there is no define alarming incidents yet, some cases seems to warn that the future sales number might not be what is expected.
Let’s take a look at several EV products that are on the verge of collapsing.
Tesla, the world’s largest EV maker, seems to be facing some difficulties due to its Model 3 and Model Y cars. The performance of both models seems to be different from past.
Though, the company registered a growth of 6.4 per cent in the third quarter of this year globally, most of it came from its new Cybertruck. Meanwhile, the smaller models didn’t perform as well. Moreover, the emergence of competitors like China’s BYD is also affecting its sales.
Another company facing low sales issue with EVs is the Ford Motor Company. The company is planning to shutdown the manufacturing unit of F-150 Lightning model for seven-week. Notably the F-150 Lightning model is one of its hottest-selling models in the US. The company explained that the reason behind such action is the decreasing demand of the model.
“We continue to adjust production for an optimal mix of sales growth and profitability,” the American company said in a recent statement.
Meanwhile, several European carmakers like Volkswagen is also planning to planning plant shutdowns in Germany. Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz has reported a drop of 50 per cent its third-quarter profits.
According to a report prepared by Goldman Sachs Research analyst Kota Yuzawa, multiple factors are at play which are proving to be a challenge for the EV sector the world over. While a few are local factors – uncertainty around Presidential elections in the US, for example, others include a rise in demand for pre-owned electric-vehicles which has impacted new EV sales, slow pace of constructing rapid-charging stations and the inability of any manufacturer to offer a real value proposition.
The Indian market has also witnessed a drop in electric car sales for four months straight due to the absence of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme.
However, this does not seem to affect the electric two-wheeler sales as they continue to remain strong. Maruti Suzuki, the country’s largest carmaker, plans to have its first electric car in the market by early 2025 while the likes of Hyundai and Mahindra are also determined to expand their electric portfolio. The Hyundai Creta electric is also ready for a 2025 debut.