Cars

I asked an auto analyst about industry resistance toward electric cars. He told me:

Charles Edward Miller

1.) Automobile manufacturers make less profit building electric vehicles (EVs).

When designing a car that's much different from older models,

research and development costs are much higher.

Small design changes, year over year, cost significantly less than big changes.

"There’s nothing cheap about developing [or] manufacturing ... electric vehicles."

2.) Automotive Workers can expect lower wages if the company gets lower profits.

Also, an electric car has up to a thousand fewer moving parts then an oil / gasoline car, which means layoffs for United Auto Workers (UAW) members.

"A study "found that mass adoption of EVs could cost the UAW 35,000 jobs.”

“EVs ... require as much as 30% fewer hours of labor for assembly."

"The global impact of fossil fuel emissions are a secondary consideration for many union members compared to job security."

3.) Automobile Dealers make less profit selling electric cars compared to gasoline cars.

Dealerships get most of their profits from their “service” departments -

doing repairs and maintenance; they make relatively less money from vehicle sales.

Since an EV has fewer parts, there are less things to maintain or repair,

and therefore less money for their service departments.

Dealerships “tend to make their profits on the service side of the operation ...

With electric vehicles, there’s far less money to be made on service.”

4.) The analyst didn't mention the many related businesses that will lose out

with a full-scale transition to electric cars:

- smog check places

- gas stations

- oil change outlets

- refineries

- car repair shops

- automobile parts manufacturers, etc.

Traditional car dealers & car companies also have a problem similar to

The more EV’s sold by a traditional car dealer or auto-maker,

the fewer of the (more profitable) conventional cars get purchased.

On average,

4 tons of toxic emissions (per commuter / per year) come out of conventional