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Automobile Sales, Including EVs and Hybrids, Surge in 2024
EV Sales, Including Hybrids, Surge for Auto Giants Not Named Tesla:
General Motors and Ford Motor on Friday reported robust U.S. auto sales and electric-vehicle sales for the final quarter of 2024. GM more than doubled EV sales for the full year, while Tesla suffered a sales decline. GM stock edged higher on Friday, while Ford stock popped and Tesla jumped.
Toyota Motor posted declining U.S. new vehicle sales, but marked an EV sales milestone, including hybrid vehicles. Hyundai, which trades over the counter, and Honda Motor saw robust hybrid and EV sales, spearheading their overall sales growth.
GM, Ford report best annual U.S. sales since 2019 as auto recovery continues:
Sales of new vehicles in the U.S. continued to rise last year, rebounding from historical lows caused by the coronavirus pandemic and supply chain shortages during the past four years.
American legacy automakers General Motors and Ford Motor on Friday both reported their best annual U.S. new vehicle sales since 2019, led by growth of electrified vehicles such as all-electric and hybrid models.
Those results are in line with industrywide expectations for automakers. Market research firms expected U.S. automakers to report total sales of nearly 16 million vehicles in 2024, which would mark the industry's best year since selling roughly 17 million units in 2019.
[...] GM said sales were driven by increases in all four of its U.S. brands as well as a roughly 50% rise in sales of electric vehicles to more than 114,400 units.
Despite the notable jump in EV sales, the vehicles only made up 4.2% of the automaker's overall sales. GM estimated it achieved a 12% EV market share in the U.S. during the fourth quarter.
It was a similar trend at Ford, which reported a notable increase in sales of its "electrified" vehicles, including EVs and hybrids.
Mazda is Selling More Cars Than Ever—All Without an EV in Sight
However, EVs are not the focus of some auto manufacturers.
Mazda is defying industry trends with surging sales of its gas-powered SUVs. Can it keep the momentum going without a fully electric vehicle in its lineup?
While many automakers are racing toward electrification, Mazda is proving that there's still room for gas-powered success. The Japanese automaker is set to break its U.S. sales record from 1986, with over 420,000 vehicles expected to be sold in 2024—a 16% increase from the previous year.
Mazda's president of North American operations, Tom Donnelly, credited the popularity of its compact crossovers and mid-size SUVs for this growth, with a target of 450,000 vehicles for 2025. "We're growing our business in what has largely been a stable industry," Donnelly said, talking about the consistent sales volume that Mazda has seen from its compacts and mid-size SUVs.
[...] What's driving Mazda's success? Mazda's lineup relies heavily on a few key models. The CX-5, a compact crossover manufactured in Japan, remains its best seller, despite being one of the oldest vehicles in its lineup. A redesign is expected within the next two years. The CX-30 subcompact hatchback and the Alabama-made CX-50 have also contributed significantly to the brand's recent surge.
[...] With overall US auto sales projected by Kelley Blue Book to rise just 2.3% in 2024, Mazda's performance is a standout. However, challenges remain. While Mazda charts new territory for its U.S. sales, it still lags behind competitors like Subaru, Kia and even Nissan, which has struggled with a host of its own problems in 2024.
Previously: Mazda: Americans Want Cheap Gas Cars
(Score: 4, Informative) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday January 07 2025, @06:06PM (3 children)
In my experience, you really, really want to do all the charging you can at home. If you can't charge at home, then for now, an EV is a non-starter. I've been burned too many times by some problem with the public charging station. They could all be occupied. They can be out of order, turned off for the night, locked behind a gate, the wrong kind (Tesla and J1772 are the two most common and were mutually incompatible, though I have read that Tesla has become more cooperative), or even just not there because they were recently torn out and your map wasn't yet updated to reflect that. They can also be "ICEd", that is, access blocked by a gasoline powered vehicle, either because the driver didn't realize the spot was for EV charging, or every other spot in the lot was taken, or because the driver is a jerk who is deliberately making life hard for EVs because he hates liberals and/or EVs that much.
And there can just plain not be enough places with a charging station. The problem is that charging takes such a long time that unlike a gas station halfway along your route, a charging station halfway along your route is largely useless. Has to be at the end point, which means there needs to be charging stations everywhere, and of course, there aren't. If I have to hike more than 1 km to get from the nearest charging station to my destination, that takes a lot of time, and the point of using a car is that it gets you places fast. Of course if you jog, then you arrive all socially unacceptably sweaty and have to deal with that somehow. I had thought to use whatever exterior outlet the building at the destination might have, but found that unworkable. Outdoor outlets are few and not easily accessible. You might have to run your cord across a sidewalk, and that is a no-no, creates a tripping hazard. One outlet would have been accessible except all the parking around it was handicapped only, so to use that one, I would have had to break that rule and risk a parking ticket.
And they can be out of network. On that, you'd think you could just use a credit card like at a gas pump. But no, you need to set up accounts with each of the half dozen or so vendors whose network you might need. That's 6 more apps on your smart phone, or 6 more special ID cards in your wallet, or maybe both. And $20 of your money in each account, as they insist you keep a positive balance, and give them a credit card number so their system can top up automatically whenever you get low. I understand that in recent years, that's been improving, and many charging stations now will accept a credit card.
Finally, there's a premium on the cost of electricity from a pay public charging station. There are free ones, but those are of course much less common. Apart from the free ones, the best rate on electricity is at home. A pay charging station will still be cheaper than the cost of the gasoline to cover the same distance, but it does cut significantly into the savings you were expecting to get by paying more up front for EV.
Another point is that at home I have done okay with a plain old wall outlet, AKA level 1 charging, the slowest. No need to install a charging station, though you can of course. At level 1, charging all night long can restore around 40 miles worth of range, good enough for my needs. If you do more traveling than that, then, yeah, look into getting a charging station. There are a couple of gotchas about level 1 charging. First, don't put anything else on that circuit. Charging an EV takes all the capacity that a typical home outlet has. If something else is on that circuit and turns on, it's likely to trip the circuit breaker. Real bummer to come out the next morning expecting to have gained 40 miles of range, only to discover something tripped the breaker early in the night (but after you'd gone to sleep) and you got only 5 miles of range. Second, be careful to insure the plug is firmly plugged in and won't slip out hours later. Annoyingly, manufacturers tend not to give you enough cord upstream from the power brick, so that the full weight of that hefty power brick is hanging from the plug if you just plug in and don't do anything else. All too likely to pull the plug out slowly, damaging the outlet with the resistive heating that causes. You are told you can't use extension cords with charging cables, but I have found that you can, though you do need to be careful, don't use a cheap extension cord with thin wires. With or without an extension cord, one slip, one weak connection, and the copious amounts of electricity trying to flow through will get the connection so hot it might scorch and melt plastic. I have ruined an outlet that way. Also have seen a supposedly high quality and capacity extension cord's ends slowly browned from the heat over months of heavy use.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday January 09 2025, @06:17PM (2 children)
They can also be "ICEd"
What would you call the opposite? When I needed to get the snow off of my windshield, I stopped at the gas station by a pump to get snow off of my wipers. Pistoned? Electriced?
If you can't charge at home, then for now, an EV is a non-starter
Yes, if there are no public chargers close, but even a public charger is cheaper than gasoline, and there are all the other advantages to electric over the over-complicated Rube Goldberg device called a "piston drive train".
The environment is the very least of all the advantages of an EV.
The problem is that charging takes such a long time that unlike a gas station halfway along your route, a charging station halfway along your route is largely useless.
Twenty minutes in my car. At home? Two days.
But no, you need to set up accounts with each of the half dozen or so vendors whose network you might need.
True, and it should be a FELONY to demand one use an app to buy something. Especially since from a security standpoint, using a phone for commerce is brain dead stupid. I had a similar bad experience at the weed dispensary, they wanted my phone number! Spamming astards...
Finally, there's a premium on the cost of electricity from a pay public charging station.
I know business owners, who inform me that the cost of utilities for a business is four to six times the cost to a home. Blame your government and power company for that. It's still cheaper than gasoline.
There are a couple of gotchas about level 1 charging. First, don't put anything else on that circuit.
I've had no blown circuit breakers from charging the car, although I blew out a kitchen outlet running the microwave, dishwasher, and coffeepot at the same time. It's not like we use fuses in our homes any more. It's given me no trouble at all.
The Stupid-Ass Voter Evisceration act: SAVE Trump and his family from prison
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Friday January 10 2025, @05:34AM (1 child)
In this context, ICE = Internal Combustion Engine.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday January 11 2025, @07:24PM
I know what the acronym ICE is, what is the opposite is what I asked. EVed? Except I haven't been to a gas station with all of the pumps taken for years. But there are plenty of gas stations, not so public EV charging.
The Stupid-Ass Voter Evisceration act: SAVE Trump and his family from prison