Are we still convinced that electric vehicles are the best way forward?

Electric car? Just chop my balls off at this point.

Chuffer said:

I hope that UK politicians sit up and take note as we don`t have the infrastucture to support mass EV charging either .

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I hope so too, but I doubt while we have Ed Miliband in place. Seems he's on a mission with his, so called, net zero policies and not a good one. Again, it seems its ideology over reality.

The stupidity of it all. We live in an area that was built-up significantly in the 1930's and post WW2 with predomitably semi-detached house and bungalow with a fair number of larger detached properties too.......so no really issue for most electric owners re. home charging. There's a small parade of local shops, typically a hairdresser, chip shop, Chinese take away, off license and newsagent. There is a small 'pay' chargeable car park for perhaps 10 cars. Space for perhaps 4 vehicles has now been given-over for the infrastructure and bay for electric car charging.........kinda crazy choice considering that perhaps 90% of the housing stock within a couple of miles is as described above. Chargers arn't installed yet......wonder if they'll be hi-speed chargers (like Tesla's)?

EVs are bad news all around

South Korea on Friday expressed “concern and regret” over a major U.S. immigration raid at a sprawling Georgia USA site where South Korean auto company Hyundai manufactures electric vehicles, which officials said led to the detainment of an unspecified number of illegal South Korean nationals.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Lee Jaewoong, read a statement following South Korean media reports that the raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement resulted in the detainment of around 450 people, including 30 South Korean nationals. Lee did not specify exactly how many South Koreans were detained but called the number “large.”

Thursday's raid targeted one of Georgia’s largest and most high-profile manufacturing sites, touted by the governor and other officials as the largest economic development project in the state’s history. Hyundai Motor Group, South Korea's biggest automaker, began manufacturing EVs a year ago at the $7.6 billion plant, which employs about 1,200 people, and has partnered with LG Energy Solution to build an adjacent battery plant, slated to open next year.

ICE spokesman Lindsay Williams confirmed that federal authorities were conducting an enforcement operation at the 3,000-acre (1,214-hectare) site west of Savannah, Georgia. He said agents were focused on the construction site for the battery plant.
“The business activities of our investors and the rights of our nationals must not be unjustly infringed in the process of U.S. law enforcement,” Lee said.

Lee said the ministry is taking active measures to address the case, dispatching diplomats from its embassy in Washington and consulate in Atlanta to the site, and planning to form an on-site response team centered on the local mission.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that agents executed a search warrant “as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful employment practices and other serious federal crimes.”

President Donald Trump's administration has undertaken sweeping ICE operations as part of a mass deportation agenda. Immigration officers have raided farms, construction sites, restaurants and auto repair shops.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that agents executed a search warrant “as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful employment practices and other serious federal crimes.” It did not say how many were detained or arrested.

Georgia State Patrol troopers blocked roads to the Hyundai site. The Georgia Department of Public Safety confirmed they were dispatched to assist federal authorities.

Video posted to social media Thursday showed workers in yellow safety vests lined up as a man wearing a face mask and a tactical vest with the letters HSI, which stands for Homeland Security Investigations, tells them: “We’re Homeland Security. We have a search warrant for the whole site.”

“We need construction to cease immediately,” the man says. “We need all work to end on the site right now.”

General Motors Co. is even further pulling back production of electric vehicles and batteries amid lower-than-expected demand and changing federal rules and tax perks.

Production of the Chevrolet Bolt will begin late this year in Kansas with only one shift, spokesperson Kevin Kelly said.
The Detroit automaker also will stop production at its Spring Hill, Tennessee, plant for all of December, as well as the week of Oct. 10 and the week of Thanksgiving. GM makes the electric Cadillac Lyriq and Vistiq, along with the gas-powered Cadillac XT5, at Spring Hill.
The plant will reopen next year with one shift until May 2026, when the second shift is expected to be added back, Kelly said.

"General Motors is making strategic production adjustments in alignment with expected slower EV industry growth and customer demand by leveraging our flexible ICE and EV manufacturing footprint," according to a company statement. "GM's U.S. manufacturing footprint remains our strength, and we are in the process of investing nearly $5 billion over the next two years to further increase domestic vehicle production, enabling the ability to assemble more than two million vehicles per year in the U.S.”

The shift cuts are the latest example of GM's pullback on EV production under President Donald Trump, who in July signed legislation to end $7,500 EV tax perks at the end of this month and whose administration is working to end federal vehicle emissions regulations that incentivized EV manufacturing.

Access to limited charging stations, stress over how far a vehicle can drive before its battery needs to be recharged, and hefty price tags are other roadblocks to broader EV adoption in the United States.
GM's decision to initially make fewer Bolts expected to be the company's most affordable EV comes just weeks after crosstown rival Ford Motor Co. announced a $2 billion investment in its Louisville Assembly Plant to make a $30,000 midsize electric truck.

But other automakers likely will slow EV production in anticipation of a drop-off in sales after the consumer tax credits expire at the end of September, said Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research at auto communications firm Telemetry.
"This is something we’ll probably be seeing across the board," Abuelsamid said.

Update :

ICE staged a massive raid on the construction site for a Hyundai EV battery plant in Bryan County, Georgia on Thursday, detaining a reported 450 illegal aliens. About 1,400 workers are reported employed at the Hyundai site..

The construction site has been the subject of a whistleblower complaint for unsafe working conditions and employing illegals. Several worker deaths have occurred at the Hyundai site, according to local reporting.

The Atlanta ATF participated in the ICE raid, “Today, @ATFAtlanta joined HSI, FBI, DEA, ICE, GSP and other agencies in a major immigration enforcement operation at the Hyundai mega site battery plant in Bryan County, GA, leading to the apprehension of ~450 unlawful aliens, emphasizing our commitment to community safety.”

Excerpt from the Statesboro Herald:

According to multiple reports, ICE and Homeland Security agents came to the HL-GA Battery Company construction site at the megasite in Ellabell, which sits next to Hyundai’s electric-vehicle producing Metaplant. LG Energy Solutions is the parent of HL-GA Battery and is partnering with Hyundai to build the battery plant at the site. The officials announced they had a warrant and to stop construction immediately.

Mary Beth Kennedy, a senior public relations Specialist for HL-GA Battery Company, issued the following statement at 3 p.m.: “HL-GA Battery Company is cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities regarding activity at our construction site. To assist their work, we have paused construction. We do not have further details at this time.”

A spokesman for Hyundai said the company is “cooperating with law enforcement and are committed to abiding by all labor and immigration regulations.”
Sources inside the Hyundai plant have told WTOC that ICE came in with multiple Humvees and that cars were being searched.
WTOC has also been told that there was panic at the site, with people running away, hopping fences, and trying to escape via rooftops.

Our WTOC Investigates team has been following this since last December, previously covering the Hyundai megasite’s alleged use of undocumented immigrants (who some workers say have been exploited due to their illegal status), safety issues during the plant’s construction, the lack of local labor companies involved, and a federal lawsuit filed against the Hyundai plant contractor.

Kevin Souza, who worked construction at the plant, blew the whistle on the safety of the Hyundai megasite, saying undocumented workers were working in unsafe conditions.
Since we first spoke with Kevin, multiple people have died at the construction site.

Souza met with WTOC at the plant just moments ago, saying he’s happy something is finally being done.
“It’s not just about the workers that are here, it’s also about the way the workers are treated and the companies that are in there,” Souza says. “No one in America should be treated like that, or have to work in these kinds of conditions.”

More than 450 illegal immigrants were arrested on Thursday morning, following an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid on a construction site for a Hyundai electric car battery factory in Georgia. South Korea, the home to Hyundai's headquarters, expressed "concern and regret," over the raid, as hundreds of those arrested were South Korean nationals.

South Korea expressed significant concern over the raid, as more than 300 of those apprehended were Korean nationals.
They sent a counselor and embassy officials to the construction site, which spans 3,000 acres.

Lee Jae-woong, a spokesperson for South Korea’s foreign ministry, told the Financial Times on Friday,
"Our companies’ economic activities and our people’s rights should not be infringed unfairly in the U.S. legal enforcement process."

The raid comes as South Korea agreed to invest $350 billion in the United States following a trade deal struck in July.

Hyundai released a statement, saying that they "are closely cooperating with the South Korean government and relevant authorities to ensure the safety of our employees and staff at contractors, and to secure their swift release from detention."

Canada is delaying a plan to force automakers to hit minimum sales levels for electric vehicles by next year, a concession to manufacturers in a sector that has been upended by tariffs.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government will make the announcement Friday as one of a series of measures to help companies in the industries most affected by US President Donald Trump’s trade war, according to people familiar with the matter, speaking on condition they not be identified.

Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, had passed rules that required automakers to ensure that at least 25% of sales were zero-emission vehicles by the model year 2026. But the government won’t implement that target now: instead, it will launch a review of the so-called “electric vehicle availability standard” to make sure it doesn’t create burdens on automakers, the people said.

It’s another illustration of how Carney, who took over in March, is unwinding some policies of the Trudeau era, partly because of the pressures of the trade war. The prime minister has withdrawn many retaliatory tariffs on US products, scrapped a carbon tax on consumers’ use of fossil fuels and ditched a new tax on digital services after Trump complained about it.

The auto industry has been lobbying for months to change the EV mandate, arguing that the targets were unrealistic and would add costs and put jobs at risk.

In June, about 8% of new vehicles sold in Canada were zero-emission. The percentage has declined this year because the federal government cut off a consumer incentive that had offered as much as C$5,000 ($3,622) to buyers of clean-energy vehicles, saying the program had run out of money.
The Trudeau electric vehicle standard raised the bar over time so that by 2035, all new cars and light trucks sold in Canada would have to be emissions-free.

“These targets were made up by the government, not based on any sound assessment of real market dynamics,” Brian Kingston, chief executive officer of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, said in an interview in August. The CVMA represents General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler parent Stellantis NV, all of which have manufacturing operations in the province of Ontario.

Under the electric vehicle mandate, manufacturers that failed to meet the sales targets would likely have been forced to restrict sales of internal combustion engine vehicles or buy credits from companies like Tesla Inc., Kingston said.
Automakers around the world are facing higher costs from US tariffs, and EV manufacturers are also facing pressures from US moves to gut fuel-efficiency rules and remove consumer tax credits for buying EVs.

The Canadian industry is highly integrated with the American auto sector: The country exports most of its vehicle production to the US, and imports more American cars and trucks than anywhere else. For that reason, automotive regulations in Canada have long tended to be similar to those in the US.

But the industry is now under threat from the Trump administration’s tariffs on foreign-made vehicles.
GM and Stellantis have both curtailed production and reduced shifts at assembly plants in the province of Ontario since the trade war began.
When Trump imposed those tariffs in April, Canada retaliated by putting its own levies on US-made vehicles - essentially matching the White House move.

A popular perk for California snob drivers of electric and low-emission cars is coming to an end.

Beginning Oct. 1, motorists with a Clean Air Vehicle decal will no longer be able to drive solo in carpool lanes because the program was not extended by the federal government, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

The carpool benefit was promoted as a cost-effective incentive to encourage Californians to buy clean and zero-emission vehicles. More than a million motorists have applied for the decal since it became available more than two decades ago. There are roughly a half million vehicles in California with active decals, allowing them to use the carpool lane alone. Last month, the DMV stopped issuing new decals and warned that the program could be ending.

Extending the program would have required approval from Congress and President Donald Trump.

"A Trump traffic jam is on its way to California and other states, all because Republicans in Congress decided to let a wildly successful bipartisan program expire," Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. "That's Trump's America: more traffic, more smog and a government more committed to slashing proven programs than solving real problems."

California is one of 13 states offering the benefit. Vehicles that qualified included fuel-cell electric, natural gas or plug-in electric cars.

Last year, Newsom signed a bill that extended California's decal program until 2027, but the state will no longer be able to continue it without federal authority, the governor's office said. According to the California Energy Commission, 25% of new cars sold in the state are zero-emission vehicles.

Drivers in electric and low-emission cars will be able to use carpool lanes after the program expires only if they meet the multiple occupant requirements. The reduced toll rates available in some areas to drivers with a decal also will end Oct. 1.
California law indicates that drivers will not be cited for driving in the carpool lane with an invalid decal within 60 days of the program ending.

"Californians are committed to lowering their carbon footprint and these decals helped drivers be good stewards of our highways and environment," said Steve Gordon, director of the California DMV, in a statement. "By taking away this program, hundreds of thousands of California's drivers will pay the price. It's a lose-lose and we urge the federal government to retain this program."

The program ends at the same time that a $7,500 federal tax credit for new electric vehicles expires at the end of the month

GM. Moron, CEO Mary Barra said Thursday that electric vehicles are still the Detroit automaker's "North Star," even as the company pulls back production to match limited demand.

“From an EV perspective, that is still our North Star,” Barra said at the industry conference Automotive News Congress in downtown Detroit.

Barra's renewed commitment to electrification comes amid a surge of EV sales as buyers and lessees rush to take advantage of $7,500 federal tax credits, authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act, before they expire at the end of the month.

After that, analysts predict an immediate drop in sales, followed by slower-than-expected growth.

Widespread EV adoption lags in the United States, where battery-powered models make up roughly only 8% of market share. On top of tepid driver interest, the U.S. EV industry has been shaken by sweeping changes to greenhouse gas emissions policy under President Donald Trump, who has moved to scrap federal rules limiting tailpipe emissions.

"Up until a year ago, we were on a journey to be in a regulatory environment where we had to drive EV adoption much faster," Barra said. "With the (Inflation Reduction Act) going away, we're still all going to learn where we're at once that ends and we get through the pull-ahead volume."

Like Barra, most automaker executives still have faith in an all-electric future, said Elaine Buckberg, a senior fellow at Harvard University's Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability who also spoke at the conference.

Buckberg, a former GM chief economist, said companies that take an early lead in nascent industries tend to maintain that advantage for a long time. She said the draw of years of market control down the road will push U.S. automakers to continue to innovate without government pressure.

Buckberg said change will come once there's widespread access to EVs that can drive 400 miles without needing a charge, fast-charging infrastructure and cheaper models. Under those circumstances, "even skeptics lose their reason for not buying," she said.

Ehh, Canada

The Biden administration awarded Canadian electric bus maker Lion Electric $159 million in advance to manufacture 435 school buses between 2022 and 2024, making it the third-largest recipient of such funding.
The company has since fallen into bankruptcy, failed to deliver hundreds of the buses it promised, and warned school districts that its dire financial straits prevent it from servicing those in circulation.

As a result, many of those districts are turning back to diesel.

The Washington Free Beacon reported earlier this year that Lion, then nearing bankruptcy, had yet to deliver $95 million worth of the electric buses it pledged to produce as part of the Biden administration's $5 billion Clean School Bus program.
Since then, Lion was sold for just $6 million during bankruptcy proceedings after being valued at $4.7 billion as recently as June 2021. The company also permanently shuttered multiple manufacturing plants, fired the majority of its employees, and told consumers that it could no longer honor warranties and purchase orders in the United States.

SURPRISE!

Whoda thunk it?
Only everybody but Kamala and crew.

New USA EPA head Lee Zeldin, who has been like a blue-tick hound on the trail of every misspent dollar his agency was handing out before he took over, had another bomb to drop about POTATUS and the rest of his marauding band of Green grifters.
Not only did Lion fail to deliver $95M worth of buses that were ordered, but the Biden EPA had written Lion a $160M check for the entire deal upfront.

. Several school districts across the country have completely removed their Lion buses from service over mechanical and safety concerns. A superintendent for a Midwest school district told industry publication Clean Trucking the district's buses could not heat up in cold weather, lost steering and braking ability at times, had defective frames, and regularly displayed error messages that forced drivers to reset the vehicles.

"The buses do not run for more than a month before needing more repairs," Coleen Souza, assistant to the superintendent of Winthrop Public Schools in Maine, told Clean Trucking.
School officials whose districts have not received the Lion buses the Biden administration had promised them are losing hope that their vehicles will ever arrive.

"We have not received any buses," Dawn Wallace, superintendent of the Ohio Valley School District in Adams County, Ohio, told the Free Beacon. "At this point, we are not really hopeful that we will. We will maintain our diesel-powered fleet and, yes, continue to purchase those in the future." Jason Stabler, superintendent of the Bureau Valley School District in Manlius, Ill., echoed Wallace's concerns.

The money's gone, the buses these school systems (some municipal transportation systems, too) have will, before long, start to develop gremlins of the electrical persuasion and crap out, with no warranty, probably no parts, and for darn sure no one to fix them.
Pray no one is hurt or injured or freezes to death on one of these buses in the meantime.

Zeldin's EPA says they're monitoring the Lion bankruptcy, but good luck with that it's a Canadian company, to start, and the multibillion-dollar boondoggle was just unloaded during a bankruptcy auction for a mere $6 million.
Not much on those bones for anyone to recover anything.
Almost like it's by design. Like, seriously, where does $4.7B vaporize to?

Only the greene cultists seem to be able to pull that kind of scam off right up to the bitter end.
POOF! Into the ether alongside with their unicorn fart promises.

Barra should be fired !

GM. on Tuesday reported that it sunk roughly $1.6 billion into electric vehicle manufacturing capacity that it no longer is using because of shifting federal auto policies under President Donald Trump.
GM reported the loss to the Securities and Exchange Commission as what's known as an impairment charge.
Impairment charges reflect assets that are not expected to bring in profits as initially expected.

GM "made significant investments and contractual commitments in the development of electric vehicles (EVs) to help the Company’s vehicle fleet comply with emissions and fuel economy regulations that were scheduled to become increasingly stringent," according to a company filing.
"Following recent U.S. Government policy changes, including the termination of certain consumer tax incentives for EV purchases and the reduction in the stringency of emissions regulations, we expect the adoption rate of EVs to slow," according to GM's filing.

"These developments have caused us to reassess our EV capacity and manufacturing footprint."
GM executives have continued to call electrification the company's "North Star."
But, along with other EV makers, the company has been shaken this year by Republicans' removal of a $7,500 tax credit for EV buyers and lessees, as well as Trump's efforts to pull back federal rules limiting vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.

GM more than doubled its electric vehicle sales in the third quarter compared with the same period a year ago, largely due to drivers hoping to take advantage of the tax credits before they expired Sept. 30.
Analysts predict a steep drop-off in EV sales in the coming months.
Interest in EVs among U.S. drivers, while increasing, is also doing so at a far slower pace than many in the industry expected.

Also, the bulk of GM's impairment charge of $1.2 billion represents machinery and other equipment to make EVs that is now sitting unused.
Another $400 million is mostly from canceled contracts with suppliers to provide GM with more parts, materials and equipment than it now can use.

GasBuddy confirms national average hits lowest level in months as first $1.99 price surfaces

The national average price of gasoline in the U.S. fell below $3 per gallon on Sunday for the first time since December 29, 2024, according to GasBuddy, North America’s trusted fuel savings platform for more than 25 years.
As of 9:30 a.m. ET, the intra-day national average stood at $2.969 per gallon, on track to potentially be the lowest daily average since May 2021.
However, prices may not hold at that level for long, with increases expected in the Great Lakes following last week’s refinery fire which boosted wholesale gasoline prices in the region.

Seasonal factors could push prices even lower in the coming weeks. GasBuddy forecasts the national average could dip into the $2.80s by year’s end as gasoline demand eases, and oil prices remain near multi-year lows.

The recent decline stems largely from OPEC’s decision earlier this year to increase oil production, marking a shift from its 2023 strategy of cutting output to prop up prices. Since March 2025, OPEC+ has steadily raised production, fueling expectations of a potential crude glut.
Some investment banks now warn oil could fall into the $40-per-barrel range as early as 2026.
Combined with falling seasonal demand and the switch to cheaper winter gasoline, pump prices have dropped sharply, including a $1.99 per gallon cash price reported to GasBuddy at a station in Evans, Colorado.

By the numbers:

• Current national average: $2.97/gal, 16 cents lower than a year ago
• Days since last $2.99 national average: 295
• Median U.S. gas price: $2.82/gal
• Most common U.S. gas price: $2.89/gal

“We saw a few $2.99 days last year, but this year brings the strongest potential for extended sub-$3 prices since 2021,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
“This drop is overwhelmingly being driven by the significant increase in oil production from OPEC throughout 2025, which has meaningfully rebalanced the global oil market.
That, combined with weaker demand and inflation finally easing, has created the perfect environment for lower prices.
While some may be quick to assign political credit, the reality is that global supply dynamics, particularly OPEC’s production decisions, have been the primary force behind the relief drivers are seeing at the pump.”

General Motors Co. is ending production of electric delivery vans at a plant in southern Ontario, dealing another blow to a Canadian auto sector that is hemorrhaging jobs.

The automaker is stopping the assembly line that made BrightDrop vans in Ingersoll, Ontario. The future of the CAMI plant was already in doubt after GM announced in April it would halt production for months because of weak demand.
It sold just 274 of them in the first quarter.

“A changing regulatory environment and the elimination of tax credits in the United States have made the business even more challenging,” GM said in a statement Tuesday. “The decision is part of broader adjustments the company is making to North America EV capacity.” It’s not moving production of the van to the United States.

The company said it will speak with Unifor, the Canadian autoworkers union and the Canadian and Ontario governments about the future of the factory, which lies about halfway between Detroit and Toronto.

Canada’s auto sector sells most of its production to the U.S. market and has been severely hurt by President Donald Trump’s tariffs and hostility to foreign auto imports. The U.S. levies have led GM and other automakers to shift some production to the United States.

Last week, Stellantis NV ended plans to manufacture the Jeep Compass SUV at its plant near Toronto, putting 3,000 direct jobs on the line and many more at nearby suppliers.
The Canadian government has threatened legal action against the automaker: Industry Minister Melanie Joly said she would consider Stellantis in “default” in light of government support extended to the automaker.

Stellantis plans to make that vehicle at a plant in Illinois instead.

General Motors has laid off 1,700 workers across manufacturing sites in Michigan and Ohio.

The company cited a slowdown in the electric vehicle market as the reason for the mass layoffs.
There were around 1,200 layoffs at Detroit's electric vehicle plant and 550 cuts at Ohio's Ultium Cells battery cell plant, the company confirmed.
Additionally, there have been 850 temporary layoffs at that site in Ohio and 700 at Ultium Cells' Tennessee plant.
'In response to slower near-term EV adoption and an evolving regulatory environment, General Motors is realigning EV capacity,' the company said in a statement.

GM fired another 500 people who worked at the two GM Tech centers, They were informed of this by an email only.
'Despite these changes, GM remains committed to our U.S. manufacturing footprint, and we believe our investments and dedication to flexible operations will make GM more resilient and capable of leading through change.'

GM also said it will temporarily pause battery cell production at its Ohio and Tennessee plants starting in January, with plans to restart by mid-2026 after upgrading the facilities.
The company confirmed on Tuesday that it is axing 300 positions and closing a Georgia tech hub.

That news came after GM, the maker of Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Buick cars issued 200 additional pink slips at its technical center in Warren, Michigan.
It also comes after the company stopped production at its Canadian facilities that built its electric panel van, Brightdrop. 950 staffers were placed on temporary leave.

GM's job cuts are the latest in a string of billion-dollar companies slashing white-collar jobs in the US.
The Georgia facility first opened in 2013 to focus on in-car software and dealership data. At its peak, the center employed around 900 people.
The company tells the Daily Mail that remaining workers will be offered positions at other US IT hubs or will work remotely.

GM and its Detroit nemesis, Ford, have been on a continued Wall Street win streak since April, when their shares were crashing after President Donald Trump unveiled steep automotive and aluminum tariffs.
Investors have been bullish on GM's approach to AI, including its deployment of manufacturing 'co-bots' that are expected to work with human workers on manufacturing floors, and upcoming vehicle innovations.

GM's job cuts add to a bleak outlook for Americans seeking new roles. Layoffs have risen 140 percent from a year ago, even though corporate earnings are strong and stocks are on a record pace.

Very sad for the employees who have lost their jobs. There was a time when a job at any of “ the big three”, was a job for life if you wanted it to be so.

Nassau65 said:

Very sad for the employees who have lost their jobs. There was a time when a job at any of “ the big three”, was a job for life if you wanted it to be so.

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A repeat story through the decades here too - last night news was Amazon expecting to lay-off thousands of staff due to the expected use of AI.

General Motors Co. and Samsung SDI have pulled back on construction of a massive electric vehicle battery plant near New Carlisle, Indiana, with a number of workers on the site laid off earlier this month.

Contractor Barton Malow confirmed the recent layoff at the $3.5 billion project but declined to provide specifics, including how many workers were let go and how many remained onsite.
GM spokesperson Kevin Kelly confirmed some workers were taken off the project but declined to provide specifics. He said construction continues.

News of the slowdown comes as GM aggressively cuts other EV costs and pushes more money back into gas-powered trucks and SUVs.
Policies promoting EVs have been rapidly dismantled under President Donald Trump, and before that customer demand hadn't matched initial projections.

The automaker said earlier this week it was laying off thousands of workers who make EVs and batteries across several sites, including at its existing joint-venture Ultium Cells battery plants in Ohio and Tennessee.

Barton Malow, the New Carlisle project contractor, said in a statement that it "recently had to lay off some of our workforce" and that such cuts are "an unfortunate part of the natural ebb and flow of the construction business."
"We recognize the impact it has on our team members and their families, and commit to supporting them through this transition and working to get them back onto this or another project shortly," said the company statement sent by spokesperson Eric Fish.

The project's timeline was previously delayed when the companies last year said they planned to open in 2027, a year after initially planned. Schalliol said the current project slowdown caused a supplier planning to locate near the battery plant to pause its plans.
But he said the plan remains for the battery plant to open by December 2027. It's scheduled to eventually create 1,600 jobs.

"We're playing the long game," Schalliol said, who added he's confident that the plant will open and produce something, even if it's not the originally-planned type of EV battery cells.
GM didn't spend all the money on the project, he said, "to convert this into the world's largest pickleball facility."

"I don't see any way, especially with the current environment, with the direction of (Trump's) 'drill baby drill,'" he said. "They're not going to get the energy credits they need to put a battery plant in place."

Some rather telling facts and figures about actual EV sales over the last 5 years here in the UK. 2025 seems to have been a disaster for new electric car registrations.

2025 post April in the UK is gonna be bad for new EVs - they are now taxed, which means most decent EVs fit into the "luxury car" txt band, spending out however many hundreds it is now for the first 5 odd years. So for a finance buyer, that's every year they have the car (3 years?).

So I completely understand why some would be put off EVs now. A mate of mine bought his new Tesla Model 3 long range specifically before April, to avoid the 5 year extra tax. Obviously still pay the "normal" level of yearly tax for cars post 2017 (£195?), but avoids the extra "luxury car tax".