Hello and welcome to the first edition of “Inside Market Moves,” where we’ll dive a little deeper into the stories that appear in each newsletter. This time, I’m taking a look at the Market Moves EVs newsletter from Friday, Oct. 18. If you’d rather read through that in its original form, you’ll find it right here.
Original subject line: Good intentions, rough implementations
Subject lines are often the hardest part of the newsletter; is it better to highlight a specific story or go with an overall theme? In my admittedly limited experience, it depends! I thought this line encompassed most of the stories that went into this one.
For instance, it’s the direct theme of the first two in the lineup:
NTEA, SEMA File Suit to Stop EV Truck Mandates
Comparing HD EV mandates and rules with reality
The conversation around heavy-duty electric trucks has been a tough one. On the one hand, decarbonizing the sector would result in significant emissions reductions. But on the other hand, it’s a slow, step-by step process and opponents believe the regulations are being rushed. As you can read in that second story, those concerns are very much founded: Going electric in trucking would significantly slow down the sector due to the range and infrastructure problems of today’s technologies. But if the industry doesn’t get a push from regulators, will anything truly change?
Moving on to the newsletter’s next stories, the “good intentions” theme continues with more company-specific news. When I’m not curating Market Moves, I’m writing about electric-vehicle startups. In almost two years of doing so, I can tell you one thing for sure: It’s tough out there.
Fisker is the subject of the third story in our lineup, What Happens When Your EV’s Manufacturer Goes Bankrupt? The company had a lot of promise. Begun by a former designer at Aston Martin, the company aimed to be the perfect compromise between luxury and affordability. Now, it’s bankrupt and its leaders have angry creditors and customers on their tail. There’s no one reason Fisker failed, although some have attributed it to incompetent leadership, bad timing and faulty manufacturing. But, as the article discusses, the rise of EVs also means treading new ground when it comes to data and software; it’s just unfortunate Fisker had to be one of the first.
In comparison, the next story, Tesla Aims at the Autonomous Mass Transit Sector is about the most established player in the industry. A few weeks back, CEO Elon Musk debuted the company’s upcoming autonomous vehicles. The response was…underwhelming. The offering is in line with Musk’s own words earlier this year about “solving autonomy,” but didn’t quite pass the sniff test to many. Tesla’s share price took a tumble after the event.
The back end of our newsletter’s lineup delves into charging. Charging infrastructure is the main gripe when it comes to EV adoption. Many have likened it to a chicken-or-egg scenario: Do you wait for adoption to tick up in order to justify spending on building more chargers? Or just build them and hope people come?
The article Assessing the Reliability of EV Charging Infrastructure takes a different approach to the charging question. Forget building more: Focus on improving what exists. Drivers of EVs are encountering a similar issue when they go to charge: They can’t. As Tom Zind writes in the story, “[…] ports physically broken or otherwise impaired; interrupted charging sessions; extended downtime; and incomplete charging […]” are all common problems reported at charging stations.
The stance of improving what exists makes total sense, in my eyes. Lots of people do intensive amounts of research before buying a car. They compare specs, prices, lifetime issues and more. But how many start that journey via word of mouth? Even if they narrow down options based on research, how many make a final decision based on what they’re heard from a friend/family member/co-worker? If charging is a smooth experience, people are inclined to talk positively and start recommending EVs to their peers.
I couldn’t find exact stats on WOM for cars. An Autolist survey from 2020 found 52% of respondents said word of mouth was the primary influencer in buying a car, fairly far ahead of the 33% who said “data-backed organizations” were their primary influence. In general, though, it’s pretty well accepted and researched that WOM drives purchasing ($6 trillion per year in consumer spending, to be exact).
The second-to-last article from our line up, Inside California’s Push for Bidirectional Charging, is a localized example of the larger discussion around V2G technology.
I won’t get into microgrids here, Endeavor has a whole brand about them called Microgrid Knowledge if you want to delve deep. Surface level explanation: Microgrids are small-scale grids that supply power to smaller areas, like schools, small villages and universities. They operate independently but can connect to a larger grid. Bidirectional charging allows EVs to become mobile microgrids; they can connect to and charge other stuff such as homes, other vehicles or businesses.
Bidirectional charging comes in clutch for emergencies but is also great for everyday use since it could cut back on energy costs. Making the capability compulsory in vehicles as California politicians may attempt comes with challenges you can read about in the article. But the payoff could be worth it.
The final offering is in the “good intentions” theme if you squint. Where Are You on EVs and Alternative Power? is loosely connected to the top two pieces with the idea that non-passenger car EVs are having a tougher time with the transition.
Many fleet owners may want to switch to alternative power, but don’t see a path forward, possibly due to a lack of knowledge about the technology and applications they can have. Some of them are correct: Switching to a non-diesel alternative would slow them down or are out of budget. Others are in a long research phase that the article outlines.
I think it would be interesting to follow up on this data in two or three years to see how it panned out for those businesses. Regardless, there’s lots of valuable information and insight into why/how fleet owners are choosing whether to adopt.
That brings us to the end of this newsletter and the first edition of “Inside Market Moves.” It’s chock full of stories and perspectives I think anyone interested in the EV sector would find it worth the reading time. See you for the next one.
— Jennifer Ramsay
