With the Memorial Day Holiday this week, the news is a little thin. Here are the headlines this week…
GM SHIFTS EV INVESTMENTS TO ICE
RIVIAN SALES TRIGGERS $1B FROM VW
HYUNDAI DELIVERS FIRST 9
EV APP REPORT
IEA GLOBAL SALES SUMMARY
AUTOMOTIVE
GM SHIFTS EV INVESTMENTS TO ICE
On Tuesday, General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced an investment of $888 million toward the Tonawanda plant to build the sixth generation V8 engine for full-size trucks and SUVs–a shift from a prior commitment to invest $300 million to build new electric drive motors at the same plant.
The announcement comes after successfully lobbying congress to rescind California’s electric-vehicle rules, among them, California's plan to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035. A plan which had been adopted by 11 other states representing a third of the U.S. auto market.
While GM continues to claim the automaker is committed to sell only electric light-duty vehicles by 2035, the company has pulled back on previous plans including selling its stake in a battery plant it planned to build with LG Energy.
CEO Mary Barra has said GM will "be responsive to where the customer is."
General Motors currently manufactures ten fully electric vehicles in production across its brands including Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, and Cadillac with new vehicles expected to launch in 2025 and 2026. Source
RIVIAN SALES TRIGGERS $1B FROM VW
In a conference call with analysts on May 6, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe announced the company’s second consecutive quarterly gross profit. The event triggered the release of $1 billion from Volkswagen AG. Part of a $5 billion investment by Volkswagen into the electric startup.
An initial $1 billion was included when the partnership was announced back in June of 2024, with the remaining funds to be dispensed upon Rivian meeting pre-determined targets.
The latest round of funds is expected to arrive by the end of June. Source
HYUNDAI DELIVERS FIRST 9
Hyundai announced today that a Georgia couple became one of the first to take delivery of the recently launched full electric IONIQ 9 SUV. The handoff took place at Mountain View Hyundai of Dalton, Georgia.
The couple previously owned an IONIQ 5 but switched to the IONIQ 9 for the SUV’s space, tech, and design. Source
EV APP REPORT
Nearly every automaker offers an app for the cars they produce. These apps offer an overview of the cars health, error messages, maintenance scheduling and for EV owners, the ability to locate, initiate, and pay for charging whether at home or on the road.
According to the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. OEM EV App ReportSM , EV owners are not very likely to use the apps provided by the automaker.
Here are a few highlights from the report:
32% of non-Tesla owners use their app on every drive. This is up from 17% a year ago. 79% of Tesla owners use the OEM app now, a 10% increase over last year.
Like modern websites, users balk at waiting more than 5 seconds for a command to execute. Tesla owners expect responses within 2 seconds.
37% of non-Tesla app users report connectivity to be their top frustration with OEM apps. While Tesla user complaints around connectivity have dropped to just 19% from 37% the previous year.
70% of non-Tesla app users say they want more features like the ability to schedule charging, plan trips with charging stop, and pay for charging from within the app. Yet according to the report, 43% never tried to schedule a charger, 44% have never used the app to plan trips, and 54% never attempted to pay for charging through their manufacturer’s app.
HOW THE APPS RANK
The J.D. Power 2025 U.S. OEM EV App ReportSM ranks the apps in two categories, Premium and Mass Market manufacturers.
Among the Premium makers Tesla stands out at the top with Mercedes-Benz taking second. BMW’s app placed third.
For Mass Market auto apps, Hyundai takes the cake with it’s sibling Kia coming in second. Mini finished a close third. Source
IEA GLOBAL SALES SUMMARY
And finally this weekend, the International Energy Agency released its executive summary, The Global EV Outlook 2025. The summary reports the electric car sales exceeded 17 million globally in 2024.
EV SALES CONTINUE TO BREAK RECORDS
In 2024, 17 million EVs were sold globally up from the 13.5 million sold in 2023. The 3.5 million difference in sales from 2023 to 2024 alone exceeds the total global sales reported back in 2020.
EV car sales grew by about 10% year on year in the U.S. reaching more that 1 in 10 cars sold.
SALES EXPECTED TO GROW IN 2025
The report sees expected sales to increase to 20 million globally. This would represent more than a quarter of cars sold worldwide. Incentives for replacing older vehicles and falling electric car prices means EVs are projected to reach 60% of total car sales in China.
Sales in Europe are expected to reach 25%—this in spite of the EU deferring requirements for automakers to meet emissions requirements.
Policy uncertainty in the U.S. is expected to remain steady at 10% growth in the first quarter of the year, and are projected to increase to 11% as consumers take advantage of tax credits which are set to expire at the end of the year.
The big takeaway from the sales portion of the summary is that despite uncertainties in the outlook, the share of electric cars in overall car sales is set to exceed 40% in 2030 under today’s policy settings.
The summary also highlights how EV charger coverage is the key to growing adoption of electric vehicles. Source
That’s it for this edition of ‘The Rollin’ Green Podcast’.
Thank you for listening.
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