Volvo’s EV Walkback – Validation of Toyota’s Caution?
By Edward A. Sanchez — Sept. 5, 2024
In early August 2024, Volvo CEO Jim Rowan announced that the company was adjusting its previous pledge to go full battery electric (or “electrified”) by 2030, instead aiming for 90-100% of its fleet to meet the target by that date, with the remainder being “mild” or non-plugin hybrids. Rowan cited the slower-than-anticipated consumer adoption of EVs, as well as the changing landscape of government credits and incentives for EVs, and the unsatisfactory state of charging infrastructure in many markets.
Volvo joins with Ford, General Motors, and other major OEMs that have adjusted their formerly bullish plans for full EV adoption by ambitious target dates to saying they would offer a “range of electrified options” for their customers. Sound vaguely familiar? It’s what Toyota has been saying, in so many words, for the last several years. I can just hear Akio muttering “I told you so.”
I still think Toyota is behind the curve, even with the automotive market scaling back its ultimate EV ambitions. But Toyota is in sync with a large segment of the car buying population’s general sentiment and caution about EVs, and in some ways, shaping it.
I have myself talked friends and family out of buying full EVs when I determined they would not be a good fit for their use case and regular driving routine. Owning and driving an EV can be a pleasant and rewarding experience, under some circumstances. It can also be an infuriating experience if you’re unprepared for what driving an EV entails.
Although I stand by my premise that PHEVs or EREVs, or “REEVs”, are not full EVs, I also acknowledge that they’re good “training wheels” cars for going fully electric. And until the charging infrastructure becomes robust, ubiquitous, and reliable enough where people can overcome their charging anxiety, they may be the right intermediate answer for many.
EV “fundamentalists,” as I call them, those that make the assertion that anything less than a full battery electric is a lazy capitulation to the status quo, and the hegemony of Big Oil, is a failure of the automotive industry, and the result of nefarious brainwashing of consumers by entrenched interests, are a little over-the-edge. Do I think there has been a deliberate FUD campaign by oil companies and some automotive brands to conflate “electrified” with “electric” and convince some that full electrics will leave them stranded on road trips? Of course. But I have also coached and talked through the advantages and disadvantages of EVs with prospective buyers that ended up buying a hybrid or PHEV.
Again, some EV fundies would say I’m complicit with Big Oil in sowing the seeds of FUD by talking them out of full EVs. But I am realistic in my conversations with people about both the advantages and limitations of EVs, of which there are plenty of both. As discussed on The Watt Car and elsewhere, PHEVs are often the “gateway drug” that get people to consider a full EV. Will some people want to stick with the reassurance of PHEVs for long trips and areas with sparse charging infrastructure? Sure. But many will also see that the vast majority of their driving is covered by electric power – they’ll also see enough charging stations to be reassured about charging availability that they may be willing to take off the training wheels of a range extender for their next purchase.
Fox News and some other openly anti-EV media outlets may pounce on the Volvo story and proclaim EVs a failure, but in reality, I see it as more of a strategic adjustment than complete repudiation of EVs.
(Image courtesy Volvo)
