EVs Gross sales Are Rising And One other Gasmobile Bites The Mud

Help CleanTechnica’s work by way of a Substack subscription, on Patreon, or on Stripe. Assist us produce the entire high-quality, authentic content material we publish week after week regardless of the challenges of content-scraping AI, delinquent media, inflation, and different hurdles.

The automotive press is virtually aflame with rumors that Ford is changing its Ford Escape crossover SUV with an electrical model, additionally to be named Escape. That has raised fairly a ripple throughout the esoteric subject of car-naming. Usually when a mannequin retires, so does the title. The US auto trade is plagued by has-beens, wanna-be’s, never-was, and simply plain exhausted automobiles that retired together with their names. Hmmm….maybe Ford is sending a not so delicate sign about the way forward for EV gross sales within the US…

The Future Of EV Gross sales In The US

By now, everybody is aware of that EV gross sales cratered final fall, after US President Donald Trump and his Republican majority in Congress engineered the “OBBA” tax invoice to remove federal tax credit for EVs.

Nonetheless, EV gross sales didn’t truly cease of their tracks, not to mention reverse course. A contemporary wave of off-lease, used EVs helped hold the momentum up earlier this 12 months, and a few automakers ( you, Subaru) stayed on monitor with plans for brand spanking new EVs within the US.

Plug-in hybrids additionally factored in as a kind of gateway drug, with Audi CEO Gernot Döllner amongst these trying ahead to robust EV gross sales in that class.

EV stakeholders should odor blood within the water as Election Day 2026 approaches. With polls indicating that  Trump will lose his chokehold on federal EV coverage, information about EVs has been tumbling by way of the Intertubes over the previous a number of weeks. Among the many examples, Slate Auto opened its first showroom in Chicago, and Common Motors unveiled its gen-4 EV platform.

Considerably bizarrely, the Trump administration additionally contributed to the information cycle with the launch of the brand new “BattMan” battery collaboration earlier this week. Below the umbrella of the US Division of Vitality, BattMan hooks up federal laboratories with tutorial and personal sector companions to push the envelope on next-gen batteries for transportation functions in addition to stationary vitality storage.

Ford Waves Goodbye To One other Gasmobile

After all, Tesla additionally weighed in with its “flying automotive” stunt, however that was only a stunt. Over on the planet of road authorized EVs, Ford has been working the publicity machine to gin up curiosity within the forthcoming Fathom all-electric pickup truck, which is on monitor for quantity manufacturing early subsequent 12 months at an MSRP beginning on the affordability benchmark of $28,350 with a built-in inverter that cuts the price of bidirectional charging, too.

The Fathom illustrates how a lot blood, sweat, and tears go into naming a brand new automotive. It’s a mid-sized pickup like the favored Maverick, however Ford went off in a brand new route with the Fathom, contemplating lots of of choices over a months-long naming journey earlier than selecting a maritime-adjacent reference to deep understanding.

The Fathom would be the first EV to roll off Ford’s new “Common EV” manufacturing platform, and the automaker has indicated that the subsequent automobile will likely be a compact SUV. The consensus has settled on one thing resembling the Escape crossover SUV, all of the extra so as a result of Ford has been laying plans to retire the gasmobile…however possibly, not the title.

That’s the place the ears of the automotive press have pricked up, drawing consideration to the Escape touchdown web page that depicts the rear finish of a forlorn, rain-splattered Escape heading off into the dustbin of automotive historical past together with its twin exhaust system.

And, right here’s the place issues get fascinating. The textual content on the touchdown web page merely notes that the Ford Escape is “tapping the brakes,” which has been interpreted as a pausing message, not a perpetually message.

Nonetheless, on the identical web page Ford offers an excellent motive why the 2026 Escape won’t fly. The automotive is just not on the market in California and several other different states.

“The 2026 Ford Escape® is just not licensed for emissions necessities with the California Air Assets Board,” Ford states in a drop-down hyperlink. “Due to this fact, it isn’t out there for buy by prospects aspiring to register their automobile in states which have adopted California’s certification necessities for the 2026 mannequin 12 months, particularly California, Massachusetts, Oregon, New York, Washington, and Vermont.”

Ford goes on to recommend two different gas-powered SUVs which might be road authorized in California-compliant states, the 2026 Bronco Sport SUV and the 2026 Ford Explorer SUV.

Extra EV Gross sales In The USA

So, is Ford actually banking on the Escape model to spice up its EV gross sales within the US? Possibly! In August, the Detroit Free Press summarized a swirl of rumors across the thought of an electrical Escape, citing insider sources together with a Ford supplier with entry to the corporate’s program codes.

Nonetheless, in the identical report, Reuters cites an inside supply who indicated that in 2029, Ford plans to introduce a brand new entry-level SUV in hybrid and gasoline powertrains.

“On the Las Vegas assembly, the executives, the supplier stated, assured sellers that the automaker is dedicated to hybrid powertrains going ahead,” Reuters emphasised.

Hmmmm…a lot for an all-electric escape. Again in Could, the Canadian Ford supplier MSAFord additionally raised some questions on an all-electric alternative for the Escape in a weblog put up (breaks added for readabilty):

“Manufacturing of the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair ended on the Louisville Meeting plant final December, leaving a large gap in The Blue Oval’s lineup because it pertains to small crossovers.”

“That is notably true of the Escape, which disappeared at a time when new automobile customers are more and more in search of extra inexpensive choices, too.

“Nonetheless, again in December 2022, a report surfaced from AutoForecast Options, claiming that the Ford Escape would reside on as an all-electric crossover, although it has to date remained unclear if that plan is undamaged ever since”

Readers, what do you suppose? Is half an EV higher than none? Full EV gross sales have but to surge, however plug-in hybrids have grow to be extra in style on the heels of US President Donald Trump’s witless resolution to bomb Iran final February.

EREV (prolonged vary EVs) are one other halfway-there possibility that may issue into an uptick in EV gross sales. The Scout Motors department of Volkswagen, for instance, has said that EREVs account for almost all of its reservations to this point.

Then there’s the pure EV gamers, together with robotaxi stakeholders alongside Slate and Rivian, which is forging forward with plans to assemble a brand new manufacturing unit in Georgia.

As for trade chief Tesla, that’s an entire ‘nother can of worms. CEO Elon Musk has earned a justifiable share of unhealthy publicity in recent times, as depicted within the new “Musk” documentary. Nonetheless, the movie wrapped someday final 12 months, leaving Musk’s newest hi-jinks for the sequel.

Picture: Ford says buh-bye to the Escape gasmobile, however studies of an all-electric alternative for the crossover SUV could also be considerably untimely (cropped, courtesy of Ford).