It was October of 2017 when I wrote an article titled: Stop The Electric Car Insanity! Now, almost eight and a half years later, the carnage is becoming clear. I wrapped up that article with this:
I want readers to know this article is not about my like or dislike of electric cars. In fact, many of them, I really like. This article is about automakers and the pace at which they plan to build electric cars.
Even if consumers decide to try an electric at twice the rate they are buying them today, it will still barely represent 1.5% of total sales. If all these automakers build all these electric cars by 2023, there will be a huge glut of them, it’ll take massive factory incentives to move them.
My advice: automakers slow down. Let the market decide how soon people want to transition to all-electrics. This is not a race, and if you are trying to make it one, you might not like first place.
It’s 2026, the $7,500 tax credit from the government is gone. Many EVs have fallen by the wayside and many of the automakers who vowed to be “all-electric” by 2027, 2028, or even 2030 have waved the white flag.
We know Ford Motor Co., General Motors, and Stellantis have invested tens of billions of dollars in electric vehicles over the past decade, but the transition has come at a steep financial cost. Slower-than-expected consumer adoption, high battery expenses and shifting government policies have forced all three companies to rethink timelines and, in some cases, absorb multibillion-dollar losses tied to EV programs.
Ford: $19,500,000,000 Write-Off
Ford has been among the most transparent about the financial drag from its dedicated EV business. The company’s Model e division has posted sizable operating losses for several consecutive years, losing roughly $4.7 billion in 2023 and about $5.1 billion in 2024. Losses continued into 2025 as the automaker invested heavily in new technology, manufacturing, and software development, according to company financial disclosures and industry reporting. Analysts expect losses from Ford’s EV operations to remain in the multibillion-dollar range annually as the company scales production and works to lower costs.
The company has also taken a significant accounting charge tied to restructuring its EV strategy. Ford disclosed a write-down of roughly $19.5 billion related to scaling back certain electric programs and pivoting more heavily toward hybrids and internal combustion vehicles, according to Reuters. The charge reflects canceled projects, shifting product plans and the difficulty of achieving profitability on higher-priced battery-electric vehicles.
Executives have acknowledged that EV demand has grown more slowly than once forecast and that the cost structure remains challenging. Battery packs remain expensive, and pricing pressure has intensified as automakers compete for early adopters. Those factors have made it difficult to generate strong margins on EVs compared with traditional gasoline-powered trucks and SUVs, which continue to provide most of Ford’s profits.
General Motors: $6,000,000,000 Write-Off
General Motors has faced similar pressures, though its financial hits have been somewhat smaller in scale. The Detroit automaker said it would take a roughly $6 billion charge as it pulled back from portions of its EV investment plan and unwound certain supplier agreements and projects, according to Reuters. The write-down reflects a recalibration of demand forecasts and the costs associated with restructuring production strategies.
GM has also absorbed additional charges tied to its electric transition, including earlier losses connected to changes in production plans and reduced incentives. Slower market growth following the expiration or tightening of some federal EV tax credits has also contributed to the financial strain, based on industry reporting. Even so, GM continues to position EVs as a long-term pillar of its strategy. Company leadership has emphasized that early losses are typical during major technological shifts, particularly when capital spending is high and scale has not yet been fully achieved.
Stellantis: $26,000,000,000 Write-Off
Stellantis, the parent company of Jeep, Ram, Chrysler and several European brands, has reported the largest single financial hit tied to the EV transition. In early 2026, the automaker announced a charge of roughly $26 billion, as it scaled back its electric-vehicle ambitions and adjusted product plans to better match demand, Reuters reported. The charge included costs related to canceled projects, supply-chain changes, warranty provisions and restructuring expenses.
Company leaders acknowledged they had overestimated how quickly consumers would adopt battery-electric vehicles, particularly in North America. The write-down was part of a broader strategic reset that included slowing some EV launches and refocusing on profitable gas-powered models and hybrids while maintaining a long-term electrification plan.
What Went Wrong?
Taken together, the losses underscore the financial reality of a once-aggressive push into electric vehicles by the Detroit Three. Analysts say the industry underestimated the time it would take for consumers to fully embrace EVs, especially as vehicle prices rose and public charging infrastructure lagged behind expectations.
Another factor has been changing policy support. Automakers built business cases around tax incentives, emissions rules and regulatory pressure that encouraged rapid electrification. When some of those incentives were reduced or eliminated, sales growth slowed, leaving companies with high costs and underutilized production capacity.
Despite the losses, none of the three automakers is abandoning EVs. Instead, they are adjusting timelines, trimming spending, and shifting focus to hybrids and lower-cost battery models that may be easier to sell at scale. Executives continue to argue that electrification remains inevitable over the long term, even if the transition is proving more expensive and slower than originally planned.
The Damage:
For now, the financial toll is substantial. Between write-downs, operating losses and restructuring charges, the combined hit across Ford, GM and Stellantis tied to electric vehicles totals tens of billions of dollars, a reminder that transforming an industry built around internal combustion is proving to be one of the costliest transitions in automotive history.
Add it all together, and the scale of the miscalculation becomes staggering. Combined the write-offs in recent history by just these three automakers total $52,000,000,000. FIFTY TWO BILLION DOLLARS. Let that number sink in for a minute and realize that if you spent $1 million a day, every single day, it would take about 142 years to spend $52 billion. You could buy roughly 1 million new vehicles at an average transaction price of $52,000. $52 billion could buy every NFL team several times over. $52 billion would pay the salaries of 1 million people earning $52,000 a year for an entire year. If someone had started saving $1 million a year at the time of the Roman Empire, they still wouldn’t be at $52 billion today.
The Real Cost May Be Twice That:
What makes those headline-grabbing write-offs even more significant is that they come on top of years of operating losses that were already piling up before the accounting charges ever hit the books. Ford’s Model e division alone burned through billions annually as the company ramped up production, invested in battery plants and priced aggressively to stay competitive. General Motors has spent heavily to launch its Ultium platform, retool factories and scale EV output, while Stellantis has poured money into global electrification programs, software development and new architectures.
In other words, the write-downs represent a reset, but they are not the full cost of the transition. They sit on top of the cash that has already gone out the door in research, development, manufacturing changes and incentives needed to move electric vehicles off dealer lots. The combined operating losses from EV programs across the Detroit Three over the past several years already total tens of billions of dollars before a single restructuring charge was recorded. How much more was lost in incentives just to move the small percentage that actually sold?
That is an important distinction. Write-offs make headlines because they happen all at once and show up clearly on financial statements. Operating losses are quieter, spread out over time and easier to overlook, but they are just as real. They reflect the day-to-day reality that, for now, most electric vehicles remain less profitable than the gas-powered trucks and SUVs that continue to carry the industry.
When you combine the ongoing operating losses with the massive write-downs, the total cost of the push into electrification becomes staggering and could easily be twice the recent write-offs. We are no longer talking about a single bad quarter or a one-time accounting adjustment. We are talking about a prolonged, capital-intensive transition that has already consumed enormous resources and will likely continue to do so for years to come.
That puts the scale into perspective. These are not minor setbacks. They are some of the largest financial bets in modern automotive history, and the true price tag includes both the billions quietly lost along the way and the massive charges now being recorded all at once. And remember, I’m just talking about three car companies here, not the many others that have lost billions of dollars along the way and will continue to lose in the future.
We All Paid The Price
The federal government also poured billions into accelerating EV adoption through the $7,500 purchase credit, which was expanded in 2022 and then abruptly terminated for most buyers after Sept. 30, 2025. For several years, taxpayers helped subsidize the cost of electric vehicles at the point of sale, and Treasury issued billions in credits as adoption climbed. Early projections suggested the program could cost well over $100 billion if it ran into the next decade, but the early sunset dramatically reduced the long-term exposure. Even so, the total federal outlay still runs into the many billions, making it one of the most aggressive consumer-incentive pushes tied to a single automotive technology shift in modern history.
In Conclusion
I’m just a car dealer turned radio host from Dallas, TX. I don’t have a doctorate in finance, but I do have two eyes and the benefit of decades in this business. I wish the Detroit 3 had listened and realized that the light they saw at the end of the tunnel was a freight train hauling loads of hard-to-sell electric vehicles.
Straight Talk and Honest Answers — always.
-Jerry Reynolds
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