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#8 | Posted by DarkVader at 2026-09-10 07:55 PM
Hybrids are the past. Battery electric is the future.
#9 | Posted by A_Friend at 2026-09-10 08:02 PM
Rolls-Royce will produce their last ICE in the 2029 model year.
From the model years 2030 forward, electric only. Eye on the prize.
Not a good business case for "electric only" - many electric-only car companies have already died, slowly dying and/or pivoting to other "in vogue" technologies like "AI" services (XPeng EV) or robotics (Faraday Future):
www.latimes.com - From $300,000 EVs to dancing bots: The El Segundo firm sliding into Tesla's slipstream - LAT, 2026-09-03
BMW's subsidiary Rolls-Royce is producing around 6,000 vehicles per year, which are easily absorbed at premium prices in a luxury car segment of the market, so it doesn't matter if their future cars will be electric, ICE, hybrid, or powered by whale blubber - they will be bought and will make a good profit.
This won't move a needle in overall electric-only market, where only a couple of [subsidized] companies, like Tesla and BYD (which just bought 1 and ordered 10 more car carrier ships) are relatively successful, and China's "industrial policy" to subsidize "electric cars and solar panels" led to overproduction and plummeting prices that are tanking their competition and the market itself.
Check the dismal stock prices and financials (losses and debt) of "zombie" or BK BEV car makers like Lucid, Polestar, VinFast, Rivian, Nio, Li Auto, GreenPower, Lordstown, Workhorse, Phoenix, Canoo, Fisker, Cenntro, Lotus, Aptera, Gogoro, NWTN Motors, and so on...
www.caranddriver.com - All the EVs That Have Been Canceled or Discontinued (2026-04-20)
Problems with BEVs are the same as always and are only getting worse, including "range anxiety", batteries longevity and toxicity and expected higher electricity prices due to multi-decades underinvestment in total electricity generation and governments' "industrial policy" of focusing on, mandating and subsidizing "renewable" energy.
Only about 5% of worldwide vehicles are EVs - with China's market share of almost 40%.
drudge.com - Why Renewables Can't Save the Planet | Electricity rates by state
|------- Really bad news? While China was ramping up all energy buildouts, the US total annual electricity generation in absolute terms stalled (and in many years actually fell slightly) from 2008 through 2023 - nuclear and hydro stalled; coal use dropped significantly but is still only slightly below combined wind and solar; only a huge increase in NG (in part, for new renewables installations backup), that dwarfs combined use of wind and solar, was responsible for keeping the lights on in the US. -------|
IOW, for almost 2 decades while other countries were adding electricity generation, we were only making electricity more expensive by replacing coal with some "renewables" plus massive amounts of (thankfully, due to fracking) cheap natgas.
Some might say that trade-off was worth it... but keeping on topic, none of this bodes well for future of BEVs, unless we massively ramp up electricity generation.
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The US should have left sooner
I never thought they would leave at all. I expected them to keep Bagram AFB and give up the rest.