not secret but developing new automobiles involve large capital investments up front that require years of sales to break ev
Understood ... but then it almost, sorta kinda seems premature to judge whether the investment is a gain or a loss in the long run, as they are still out on the course, n'est ce pas? They may be losing money in the short run, but it may be too early to judge whether they WILL eventually make money in the longer run. After representing both creditors and debtors in hundreds of bankruptcies and other litigation, I sorta understand how financial data is really just a form or statistics and they tell one story one day, and another story another day, depending on what axe is being ground; for example, claiming to lose more on cars than they make, while staying in business ...um ... in the longer run. So car companies dragging their feet developing electric cars claim they are hemoraghing money - perhaps for political or various economic reasons - after all they have their own axe(s) to grind. It is not easy to determine and express their REAL long-term positions as some suggest.
This is NOT really an argument - just a few passing comments. We cannot cross examine any of the claims expressed herein. Nevertheless, I am confident there is a lot more to the story at every turn. For just one example, politicians tout electric vehicles as having a "smaller carbon footprint", while actual automotive engine designers I know point to a larger picture, including the carbon footprint and other ecological hazards involved with producing sufficient electricity to charge all those batteries, not to mention the cost and carbon footprint of building a battery-charging infrastructure, and they say there is A LOT more to it than most folks know and talk about. I foresee a huge problem disposing spent batteries. And on and on.
I sorta, kinda almost doubt anyone can truly explain it all in a couple of paragraphs in a social media thread. Nothing we hear in a news blip is fully accurate. For example, about 18 years ago, there was a major revision of the US Bankruptcy laws. Nothing any newscaster could say in just 5 or 10 minutes could possibly convey the gist of nearly 400 pages of revisions, which means every news story was to some degree inaccurate and misleading, at least beyond the fact there were many revisions.
So, personally, I have serious doubts about all of these topics. I have little faith in big business or big government or politicians because the world economy is too vast and complicated for anyone to fully comprehend, let alone manage and control. Folks can focus on small bits and angles, but that is as good as it gets. Consider a simple matter of shifting from gasoline to deisel fuel. They are both produced in from the same raw material in essentially a singular process - by which I merely mean to say making more of one type of fuel inherently entails making more of the other type. (At least that is what industry engineers tell me.) It is sorta, almost analogous to distilling voldka as a byproduct of distilling whiskey to be aged into bourbon. (At least that is how it is explained by active Master Distillers I have met.) That easily explains why new distilleries all sell rum and vodka while they wait for their first bourbon to age. My point is - it is a lot more complicated than folks let on. People focus on one or two aspects, as if that is the whole story. But it really never is that simple. It is hard to affect one aspect of the market without causing serious repercussions in other aspects of the market. Consider, as further evidence, how many retail jobs have been lost in any local market, as consumers shift purchases to online Internet vendors.
Again, I am NOT really making an argument for any particular product or position - I merely suggest it is a VERY complicated world and nobone can sufficiently and accurately sum any major field or development in a few paragraphs.
Consequently, considering I have no impact or control over any of it, I am just standing by sipping my favorite bourbon and waiting to see what happens next. And that is just MY take. (Again, there is no argument here - just a observations on the larger process, partly explaining my personal skepticism over the future.) JHR
