More And More Americans Don't Believe EVs Are Good For The Planet

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, September 25, 2024, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.

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Contents

1st Gear: Fewer Americans Believe EVs Are Better For The Planet

America’s switch to electric vehicles is facing all kinds of roadblocks, whether it’s politicians who don’t believe we should be going electric, insufficient investment in charging infrastructure or just a lack of electric options that people actually want to buy. Now, a new study has revealed that the number of Americans that believe in EVs’ one real selling point is dwindling.

People might buy an electric car for a number of different reasons, but one of the biggest selling points is their reduced emissions and lower environmental impact over their lifetime. However, a new study has found that the number of Americans that actually believe EVs are better for the planet than gas-powered cars is dropping, reports NPR. As the site explains:

The net benefits of EVs have been frequently fact-checked, including by NPR. “No technology is perfect, but the electric vehicles are going to offer a significant benefit as compared to the internal combustion engine vehicles,” Jessika Trancik, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told NPR this spring.

It’s important to ask these questions about EVs’ hidden costs, Trancik says. But they have been answered “exhaustively” — her word — and a widerange of organizations have confirmed that EVs still beat gas.

But the share of car-buying Americans who believe that has gone down by 5 percentage points in the last two years, from 63% to 58%, according to data that the market research firm Ipsos shared exclusively with NPR.

Unsurprisingly, the number of people that believe EVs are better for the planet than gas cars is even lower in people who aren’t in the market for an electric car. Among those people, just 30 percent of those polled think there is an environmental benefit to owning an EV, compared with 82 percent of people that are considering adding an EV to their garage.

While EVs emit no tailpipe emissions, producing them is hard on the environment and they continue to require electricity to operate. It’s these environmental costs that leave some people in doubt over their eco credentials.

However, lifetime emissions of an average electric vehicle here in the U.S. are around 60 percent lower than their gas-powered counterparts. Then, there are the concerns about increased particulate emissions from EV brakes and tires, which are under more strain due to the increased weight of electric cars. But those also might not be as big an issue as many fear, as gas cars also emit these particulates and improvements made to regenerative braking could soon improve the situation.

2nd Gear: Stellantis Warns Of Layoffs Across America

Stellantis is having a tough time of it right now with sales falling, dealerships losing faith in the automaker and head honchos even kicking off the search for a new CEO. Now, the company is threatening layoffs across its workforce here in the U.S., including members of the United Auto Workers union employed at its plants.

Stellantis will reportedly lay off workers “across its footprint,” reports the Detroit Free Press, however the Jeep owner has not confirmed how many jobs will be impacted. The indefinite layoffs will hit unionized workers at Stellantis’ facilities across America, as well as seasonal workers employed by the company, as the Free Press explains:

“This affects many of our U.S. manufacturing facilities, but we are not providing specific details,” Stellantis spokeswoman Ann Marie Fortunate said.

Recent social media posts indicate workers at numerous plants have either been told of cuts or are bracing for them.

The company provided statements highlighting market conditions and vehicle affordability as the reasoning behind the layoffs.

“Stellantis is in full execution mode focused on both protecting the company from the continued intense external market conditions and, at the same time, offering customers vehicles they can afford,” according to a statement about the layoffs provided by Fortunate. “As such, we are continuing to take the necessary actions to improve operations across our facilities; this includes ongoing assessments of our manufacturing processes to improve efficiency. While that effort continues, the company will be implementing indefinite layoffs of represented employees across its footprint.”

The total number of workers set to be impacted by the layoffs has not been confirmed by Stellantis, which owns the Jeep and Chrysler brands. However, the automaker did add in its statement that seasonal employees hired to support production at its sites “will be separated from the company effective Oct. 1.”

The layoffs at the automaker follow the news that Stellantis would cut hundreds of jobs across its U.S. production facilities earlier this year. In May, the firm confirmed cuts were coming to its Warren Assembly plant, where the Ram 1500 and Jeep Wagoneer are assembled.

3rd Gear: Ineos Pauses Grenadier Production ‘Indefinitely’

While Stellantis cuts its workforce, rugged SUV manufacturer Ineos has been forced to cut production of its flagship Grenadier over issues with its supply chain. The British automaker has paused production “indefinitely” according to reports from Autocar.

Production of the Ineos Grenadier began back in October 2022 at a facility in France. However, just two years later it’s come to a standstill after one of its critical suppliers hit financial difficulties, reports Autocar. The supplier was producing trim pieces for Ineos, which it says it cannot finish cars without, as Autocar explains:

Ineos Automotive CEO Lynn Calder told Automotive News Europe that it is unlikely to restart until “toward the end of the year or early next year” because the company has run out of a trim piece “that we can’t sell the car without”.

Calder said the supplier of the part is in a “pre-insolvency situation” and that Ineos is seeking an alternative manufacturer for the trim piece.

The pause comes at an awkward moment for Ineos, which is on the cusp of launching in the critical Chinese market, as well as in Mexico.

The production stoppage will cause headaches for Ineos’ sales team, which have been struggling with dropping deliveries this year compared with 2023. According to Autocar, sales of the rugged SUV are down 35 percent so far this year, with Ineos delivering just 847 Grenadiers across Europe between January and the end of August 2024.

To try and bolster sales of its cars, Ineos revealed a rugged pickup truck called the Quartermaster last year and announced plans to add a smaller model to its lineup, which it calls the Fusilier.

4th Gear: Fiat Workers Threaten Strike Over Slowing Production

Ineos isn’t the only automaker facing a slowdown in Europe, Fiat is also witnessing production pauses across its facilities. Now, production slowdowns at Fiat’s Italian plants have angered workers, who are now threatening owner Stellantis with strike action unless something changes.

Most of Stellantis’ plants in Italy reportedly witnessed a steep decline in output during the first half of 2024, reports Automotive News. To protest the falling production across automotive factories in Italy, members of the FIM-CISL union have voted in favor of a one-day strike, as Automotive News reports:

Most of the Stellantis plants in Italy saw a steep output decline in the first half, according to data by FIM-CISL union, with an overall 25 percent decline.

Projections are now for just over 500,000 vehicles produced by Stellantis in Italy in the full-year, from 751,000 in 2023, FIM-CISL has said.

“The situation is bad, very bad,” UILM’s Rocco Palombella said at a press conference on Sept. 24 with the leaders of FIOM and FIM-CISL, the two other main metalworkers unions in Italy.

Work at Stellantis plants across Italy has repeatedly been paused in recent months while the company deals with lower demand for its models, including electric cars like the Fiat 500. The slowdown has been at odds with the Italian government’s ambitions for Fiat, which it hopes will be capable of producing 1 million vehicles a year by the end of this decade.