On balance I still don't think other car companies are sandbagging their EV efforts and trying to do badly, even though it can seem like that at times.
Everyone has underestimated how hard it is to build good EVs, so if anything, Tesla deserves more credit...
No one said legacy auto was
trying to do badly.
Sandbagging follows incompetence. If they were competent, they wouldn't need to sandbag. If a company is incompetent at making EV's it basically means they can't do it profitably. And if you know you can't do it profitably you don't make a few million of them, you pretend like you know what you're doing and make sure you only make a few thousand at a time (while telling us many more are on the way, again and again). I don't think the end (their survival) justifies the means (their deception).
I call it sandbagging because they continue to act like they are about to release a whole slew of EV's, but they never do. And they knew they weren't going to. It's unethical deception. We have a capitalistic system in which the ones most capable of meeting the market needs are supposed to thrive and the incompetent ones die off. We need to rapidly pivot away from carbon to preserve the habitat that sustains us and makes our lives possible. They are subverting the system by lying and delaying. It would be better if they just died off and let those capable of meeting critical market needs take over. That's what will happen anyway but the lying and deception is subverting our system, making it less efficient at meeting market needs and threatening our species (all species). Delay of game is illegal in competitive sports, it should be a more serious offense when our lives depend upon
not delaying.
The ICE industry is desperately trying to slow down EV's while simultaneously acting like they are pivoting to EV's tomorrow. In just one more year they will have a gazillion new EV models. For proof they are purposefully delaying, and to see how messed up they are, watch this Autoline Afterhours episode from two weeks ago. These dinosaurs actually had the nerve to call it "
Stretching More Life Out of the ICE"!
They have a Bosch manager on there who has some interesting comments as he tries to convince people the transition to EV's will be a slow process (out of necessity). They know exactly what they are doing in terms of gaming the system, spreading misinformation and lobbying to keep ICE alive as long as possible. It's disgusting.
Why is it so unacceptable to some people to simply let the least efficient die off and the best lead the way? That's what makes capitalism good. Take that away and capitalism no longer works for humanity, it works against us.
Don't make excuses for them. The fact that they are incompetent doesn't make them bad people but, if they can't cook they should get out of the kitchen. Instead, they keep telling us dinner will be served in one more hour. But it's already 3 hours past midnight! Meanwhile, there is an awesome chef in a small kitchen down the hall churning out delicious meals but word is the food has worms in it, causes indigestion, tastes terrible and it might even kill you. We need to get the FDA investigating their kitchen before more people die! If only the bad chefs in the big established kitchens had some government assistance they could make some really delicious food and feed everyone. It won't be cheap but it will look very nice and the consistency will be world class. It will happen within the (next) hour. Always one more hour.
People who can't see how our futures are being pulled out from under us in the name of narrow financial interests fail the easiest intelligence quiz ever made! It should be obvious to all but the most gullible.