Early last month, I reported to you that the Detroit 3 had combined losses of over 50 billion dollars in write downs to get out of or to scale back on the electric car business in an article titled: The Detroit 3 Should Have Listened.
As this drama continues to unfold, the picture gets darker and more dramatic. 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.
Combined, the write-offs in recent history by just these three automakers total $52 billion. 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.
But here’s what has become even clearer since I wrote about this in early February.
The Detroit Three were just the beginning.
Across the globe, more automakers are now dealing with the same reality. European manufacturers have slowed EV investments, delayed production plans and acknowledged weaker-than-expected demand. Some have taken charges, others have simply changed direction, but the result is the same: the timetable has shifted.
Startups have added to the tally as well. Companies trying to build electric vehicles from the ground up have reported billions in cumulative losses while struggling to reach scale, with per-vehicle losses that remain significant.
When you step back and look at the full picture, the total losses tied to electrification efforts across the global auto industry now climb well beyond $100 billion—and that’s before you factor in the ongoing operating losses, incentives and capital investments that continue today.
In reality, the true cost is likely much higher.
The Real Cost May Be Twice What I Thought
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.
No doubt, this is an unfolding story with no end in sight.
Photo: Ford Rouge Center F-150 Lightning Production, 2022. Credit: Ford.