Drew Dowdell

I think the 18.3c needs to increase too if we're already having to shift money around to cover things. And we're not even covering everything with that. The state of bridges here in PA is horrible. They just reduced traffic on a bridge here because they found serious defects. It's a major interstate artery through the city.

Tariff Tuesday is the day where we cover how President Trump’s tariffs, if fully enacted, will impact the auto industry, increase costs, and limit consumer choice. We started this series on April 15, Tax Day for those in the United States, because Trump’s tariffs amount to one of the largest single increases in taxes on the American People. The tariffs which, if fully implemented, will raise $1.4 trillion in revenue, and increase costs per household between $1,900 to $7,600 per year. Manufacturers are shuffling their decks Since the Trump tariffs have gone into place, automobile manufacturers have been rushing to shift production to avoid tariffs and reciprocal tariffs imposed by other countries. This has lead to some breathless and inaccurate or incomplete headlines like: Mazda set to stop U.S. production on this popular model. Here’s what that means for you - Daily Dot First major auto manufacturer (Mazda) pulls plug on US production due to tariffs - MSN Massive blow to Trump as Japanese car giant (Subaru) moves manufacturing OUT of US in tariff twist - Daily Mail Trump tariffs cost U.S. millions as Subaru shifts supply to Japan - MSN While some of the above articles explain the truth in the body of the stories, in these days of click-bait headlines, it is important that we don't bury the lead. For both Mazda and Subaru, the production shifts are for vehicles built in the U.S. and bound for Canada. Because of Trump's tariffs on imported vehicles, Canada placed a reciprocal tariff on vehicles imported from the U.S. Going forward, Subarus sold in Canada will have a "Made in Japan" sticker on them. Prior to Trump's election, the popular Forrester model was slated start production in Indiana taking over allocation from the outgoing Subaru Outback. The new Subaru Outback Crossover is slated to be built in Japan, however that may change with the tariffs in place. Unlike the domestic manufacturers, Subaru does not have multiple plants in the U.S. to move overseas production to their Lafayette, IN plant. The Subaru CrossTrek entered into production in the U.S. in 2023, only certain trimlines are made here with the base and premium trims still built in Japan. It is likely that Subaru will shift all US Crosstrek production to Indiana. Subaru's sports car, the Subaru BR-Z, is unlikely to survive the tariff regime as we explained in our Sports Cars are Dead piece. The Mazda CX-50 is the only Mazda model offered for sale in the U.S. that is built in the U.S in Huntsville, Alabama. The Huntsville plant is a joint venture with Toyota who builds the Corolla Cross there as well. Mazda announced a pause in production of the CX-50 after the tariffs went into affect to regroup. The plant had been supplying roughly 11,000 CX-50s to the Canadian market. It is likely that Canadian CX-50s will be imported from China in future, though there has been no official word on that from Mazda yet. In a statement, Mazda says that overall production of the CX-50 at Huntsville should remain the same, meaning that factory's output will be entirely for the U.S. market. It is likely that Mazda expects sales of the CX-5, a roughly similar sized crossover at a lower price and imported from Japan, will fall as the tariffs push the price above the CX-50's price. It's also possible that Mazda sees opportunity for increased sales of the CX-50 being one of the few small crossovers built in the US. Audi, which paused all imports in early April and has no production in the U.S., is looking to move production of certain models to Volkswagen's Chattanooga TN plant. The Audi Q4 eTron is built on the same platform as the Volkswagen ID.4 built in Chattanooga while the next version of the Audi Q8 eTron could join production of the new Scout truck and SUV at that brand's new plant in South Carolina. The larger brands like Toyota, GM, and Ford have more flexibility to move production around. GM in particular is looking to restructure its supply lines on trucks if the tariffs remain permanent, however, that does not necessarily mean a return to US production if they can prove enough of their sourced parts come from the U.S. Playing the cards in their hand Across the board, manufacturers are digging into their supply chains to tag parts made in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. In the new tariff requirements there is an exemption for raw materials and parts sourced from the U.S. in vehicles that have their final assembly in Mexico or Canada. Even with the supply-chain turmoil of the Covid-19 years, manufacturers do not have their parts content sourcing mapped to the raw material level. However, in order to qualify for that exemption, the vehicle must have 75-percent or more of its content sourced from North America. Calculating those savings correctly could make or break a model. According to The Peterson Institute for International Economics, Mexican built vehicles already have an average of 40-percent to as high as 50-percent U.S. content. (Automotive News - Subscription Required). Previously, an engine assembled in Mexico would be tariff free as long as some of the parts were made in the U.S. Now, manufacturers have to calculate which parts come from where, where were the raw materials sourced, and how much value was added in a particular country in order to calculate the tax. Unfortunately, even those calculations cost time and money manufacturers will pass an increase cost to consumers without an increase in value. Gotta know when to fold'em One of the many reasons cited by Trump for imposing these tariffs is to correct what he sees as an unfair trade imbalance between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Setting aside the fact that Canada has the same size population as the State of California and as such there would never be balanced trade between the U.S. and Canada, the unintended consequences are the reactions by auto manufacturers are making the trade imbalance worse with at least roughly 40,000 fewer U.S. built vehicles being exported to Canada and the remainder scrambling to prove their content sources to avoid the Trump tariffs and leave production in Mexico or Canada. Any trade imbalance is not going to be fixed by Audi moving a few low volume products to existing U.S. factories. This works out to a net loss for the American consumer. Read more Tariff Tuesday articles below: Tariff Tuesday - Big Trouble in Little Crossovers Tariff Tuesday - Buick Killing it in China; Killed in the U.S. Tariff Tuesday - Sports Cars are Dead View full article

@smk4565with all the good points lately! I also think that $50b over 10 years in new funding isn’t enough to cover the deficit the Highway dept is facing. If they’ve had to do $275b over 18 years, the math doesn’t add up.

It still could be. There is a lot more L2 charging than L3 charging and there’s a bunch of it that is discounted, free, or charges by the hour rather than kWH. So that can distort the average even though is isn’t inaccurate

Yeah I think the key there is that those are all level 2. These aren’t fast chargers you use on a road trip, and that’s okay.

His view is probably based on the places he goes, not an unreasonable way to view it. For me, I'd look around the offices I visit, the Costco I go to, the YMCA I use, etc. Because we got into this discussion, it made me look into it from a practical perspective on how it would fit into my life if I didn't bother to put a plug in at home, and yeah, I could still do it for cheap.

He's got lower electric rates than I do and I see a lot of 25c/kW around me. But also, look at the speeds. The higher the speed, the higher the price. The 60c/kW chargers near me are for the 350kw units. You only use them for 20-25 minutes max, and that's if you are totally empty and going to 80%. They're more suited for highway rest stops than grocery parking lots. Though there is one in the local Target that is an insane 66c for 100kw charging, but that Target is a madhouse anyway, so they're probably justified in keeping the prices high. There a certain demographic that uses that Target that doesn't care about money. The 25c/kW / L2 places are for places you'll spend an hour more at. A parking garage for the doctors office, the gym, the grocery store, at the office working. Going to an event next week to try out vehicles. Ford - Maverick Lobo, Bronco Raptor, Explorer Lincoln - Navigator Acura - ADX, ZDZX, Integra Honda - Prologue EV, Civic Hatch and CR-V Sport Touring hybrids Lucid - Gravity SUV and Air Genesis - 2026 GV70 Polaris - Slingshot Volvo - XC90, EX90 Toyota/Lexus - as many as five vehicles BMW/MINI - five or more vehicles Hyundai – Ioniq 5 N, Santa Fe HEV Kia Alfa Romeo – Tonale BMW MINI Anything that lights your fire?

A Deville Concours. These were rare when new and rarer now. These were the high end version that came with the more powerful northstar and magnaride. Concours got all the new suspension tech through this generation as it came out.

So you need to figure out what that would have cost you in the Trailblazer SS.

Absolutely, but I'm talking about like verse like. You're sorta in the same situation I am in. I have a nearly paid off Avalanche with only 63k miles on it, so buying a Silverado EV to save on gas doesn't math. It sounds like you're not putting a lot of miles on it then, which is also valid. Differing driving habits change the math. @G. David Felt sounds like he's on the road a lot. My mileage usage varies significantly each month so its difficult to make the case for an EV unless I bought one solely to put business miles on and save the Avalanche for personal driving. For April, I claimed over $1600 in mileage. May will probably be around $400. As I said... it depends. In this image, the chart is set to 15,000 miles a year, $3.50/g for gas, and 25c/kW for electricity.

Eh, as with all things, it depends. If you live in an apartment and your goal is simply the lowest cost per mile, buy a Pruis and we'll see you again in 250k miles. But comparing the most popular EV sedans today to a Pruis isn't really a fair comparison. The EVs have more features, tech, and performance. A Model-3 or Ioniq 6 will vastly out perform a Pruis, and the Ioniq 6, especially after the update, has a nicer interior and more compliant ride. Both of those EVs are more comparable in performance to something like an Acura TLX 3.0 Turbo or BMW M340i, both of which prefer premium. Now, if you're in an area with few chargers, then you'll need to do research. In my area, there are lots of chargers and they all have different rates, often at different times of the day. One advantage that charger operators have is that they can vary their rates based on time of day. So if everything in my life were the same except I was living in an apartment instead of a house, I would look at which chargers had the lowest rates. The slow-ish 6KW chargers across from the office I'm in today are 11/c/kWh right now. That's cheaper than I can get at home. A lot of the mid-speed chargers around me are 25/c/kWh, still quite reasonable and would make a Model-3 about the same cost per mile as a Pruis. The other thing to consider is vehicle size. Because of the non-liner way we calculate fuel economy in this country, bigger gas vehicles do worse than their numbers seem. A Tesla Model-3 will cost between 8c and 13c per mile to fuel at normal Supercharger rates. Fuel Cost $3.50 MPG Cost Per Mile Cost per 100 miles 15 $0.23 $23.33 20 $0.18 $17.50 25 $0.14 $14.00 30 $0.12 $11.67 35 $0.10 $10.00 40 $0.09 $8.75 45 $0.08 $7.78 You can see why I picked the Pruis as the comparison model. At 45 mpg, it's the only vehicle that comes close to the cost per mile of a Tesla at cheap supercharging. Now, comparing your Navigator to David's EV9, the savings start to stack up. The EV9 does 99 MPGe City and 88 MPGe highway, burning on average 46kw per 100 miles. Even at 60c/kw charging which is the most expensive I can find in my area, David is looking at $24.60 to go 100 miles, basically the same you and I would pay to fill our trucks. But David can almost certainly find cheaper charging than that. If he charged at the building across from where I am today for 11c/kw, he'd pay $4.51/100 miles. At a more common 25c/kW, he'd pay $10.25/100 miles. If he charges at the 25c place and commutes 300 miles a week, he's looking at $30.75 a week. You in your Navigator and me in my Avalanche aren't getting anywhere for $30.75 a week. The efficiency king (in affordable EVs) right now by a long way is the Ioniq 6 with 135 MPGe, large battery, and some of the fastest charging. Except for the Lexus RZ which has a low range, all the rest of the top MPGe players are around 115MPGe or less.

To me, the fill-up time argument is becoming rather pointless. We are rapidly approaching the time where you're going to be able to charge while you're out and about doing other things, so even if you live in an apartment, you can charge in your daily routine. The major grocery stores in my area are getting charging stations. Walmart is putting in charging stations everywhere. The office complex where one of my clients is has two separate charging stations, 14 plugs total. There's a charging station at the YMCA I go to. There's two, a small one and a big Tesla one at the IKEA. Costco is rolling them out. One of our gas chains, Sheetz, is partnered with Tesla and their larger locations have them. I know that I can drive from my house in Pittsburgh to my relative's house in Manassas Virginia 200 miles away with several chargers on route. I'm probably going to be converting my dryer outlet to the correct plug here soon so I can get test vehicles from the manufacturers, so I'll just charge at home. Is that the case everywhere? Of course not. It will be the case in the areas of higher population though. Can you put gas in faster? Sure. Will it matter? Only once in a while on road trips if you're trying to Cannonball Run it. Most of the time you'll plug in at home and go inside and sleep/eat/watch tv. If you live in an apartment, you'll fill up while you're getting groceries or at work or out with friend in the hip part of town. I can be inside, have my hot pocket microwaved, and on my couch in a lot less time than 6 minutes and 31 seconds.

That's every car company out there. Toyota and Honda only exist today because of the US government getting Japan back on its feet and then later the Japanese government supporting them with currency manipulation and socialized pensions and medicine. Subaru was originally Fiji Heavy Industries which built busses, trains, heavy construction machinery, and was a major supplier of airplanes. FHI is still a major aerospace company who supplies parts for the Airbus 380 and just about every model Boeing makes or has made that starts with a 7. They also make military helicopters and both military and commercial drones. Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and VW are all here today because of the Marshall Plan and later their countries' social medicine and pension programs. Mercedes makes a lot of military and construction equipment purchased by governments. BYD (and others) is where it is because the Chinese government spent loads on battery development and incentives to its citizens to by EVs. Prior to that, BYD built their industrial might on building busses and other heavy machinery for the Chinese government and local governments all over the world. GM and Ford had major defense contracts during WWII, the 2008 bailouts, the Biden EV tax credits, the Obama cash-for-clunkers incentives, and much more. However, they famously have always had to manage their own healthcare and pensions systems which are what put them at a competitive disadvantage throughout the 80's and 90's. Stellantis's ownership timeline is too convoluted to even tackle, but Chrysler was bailed out in 1979, then they bought AMC/Jeep which had been kept afloat by the military, then they were bailed out again in 2008 by both the US and Italian governments. Fiat is/was a major equipment and bus supplier in Europe. The French government has always supported Peugeot and Citroen... the list goes on.

I got a mid-size portable one rated for 4500w. It doesn't run the whole house. It's enough to keep the downstairs fridge and freezer going, the internet up, and the phones/laptops charged. In the wintertime it can also be used to run the furnace. We lost power for 18 hours overnight this past winter when it was 11 degrees out, so getting one that will run the furnace was on my list of requirements. We get multi-hour outages several times a year, during the worst of covid we had a transformer blow a couple streets over and they couldn't get a replacement for days, so I think it was an overdue investment. While it does have a connection available to wire into the breaker box, my breaker box is not set up for it. So for me, it was just stringing orange extension cords under the garage door and out the living room window to plug into the unit in the driveway. We got power back for a short time at 11 p.m., then again at 3 a.m., I was able to power down the generator at 3. Last I looked, there were still 134k without power, over 400k at the worst of it. They're saying more bad storms tonight.

We got walloped here in Pittsburgh last night. Power company is saying 5-7 days before power is restored. No damage to my property. I ran out and bought a generator first thing this morning. T Mobile cell network is struggling and I lose service once I leave my WiFi connection. 70 mph winds and lots of destruction.

Dodge can keep Hornet at pre-tariff pricing until 2027 at the rate they're selling.

Yes, and we will likely see Subaru shift more crosstrek production to the US for US market with that capacity. It might mean that Forrester production moves here too.

To clarify, CX-50 production will remain in the US but will only be for US market customers. The pause is only for Canadian market builds. Mazda is increasing US market builds to make up the difference, likely because they know that other imported models will take a sales hit from the additional taxes and Mazda can capture those with a domestically manufactured CX-50. Mazda very specifically said in a statement that overall production volume is not expected to change.

Tariff Tuesday is the day where we cover how President Trump’s tariffs, if fully enacted, will impact the auto industry, increase costs, and limit consumer choice. We started this series on April 15, Tax Day for those in the United States, because Trump’s tariffs amount to one of the largest single increases in taxes on the American People. The tariffs which, if fully implemented, will raise $1.4 trillion in revenue, an increase per household of $1,900 to $7,600 per year. Last week we discussed Buick’s Tough Spot - Killing it in China, Killed in the U.S. and one of our readers brought up an excellent point: Big Trouble in Little Crossovers The little crossover segment is one of the hottest and most competitive segments in the industry. So much so that even before tariffs, a few models were already driven from the market without replacements. The Fiat 500X, Jeep Renegade, Nissan Rogue Sport, and Ford EcoSport were all models competing in this segment in the U.S. that just couldn’t quite make it and were canceled after a single generation, though the Jeep Renegade lives on in other markets. The commentator above is right. With few exceptions, nearly all of the little crossovers available in the US are imported. Because there is a lot of fuzziness in the size of vehicles in this class, for this list we will generally be looking at the smallest crossovers a particular brand offers. We are also including vehicles regardless of price as the tariff impact in this size class appears to transcend price. Acura ADX - Mexico Alfa Romeo Tonale - Italy Audi Q3 - Hungary Audi Q4 eTron - Germany Audi has indicated they may move production of some models to the U.S., likely through partnership with parent company Volkswagen and their production facility in Tennessee. Audi has paused all imports of their vehicles to the U.S. due to the tariffs and is holding vehicles already in the U.S. at ports. BMW X2 - Germany BMW X3 - United States Buick Envista - South Korea Buick Encore GX - South Korea Buick Envision - China Cadillac XT4 - United States (model canceled) Cadillac Optiq - Mexico Chevrolet Trax - South Korea Chevrolet TrailBlazer - South Korea Chevrolet Equinox - Canada Chevrolet Equinox EV - Mexico Dodge Hornet - Italy Ford Bronco Sport -Mexico Ford Maverick - Mexico Ford Escape - United States Genesis GV60 EV - South Korea Genesis GV70 - South Korea GMC Terrain - Mexico Honda HR-V - Mexico Honda CR-V - United States Hyundai Venue - South Korea Hyundai Kona - South Korea Hyundai Ioniq 5 - United States as of 2025 model year to take advantage of EV Tax Credit eligibility from the Biden Inflation Reduction Act. Eligibility for the tax credit is still in limbo. Hyundai Tuscan - United States Infiniti QX50/QX55 - Mexico Infiniti has announced they have suspended all new orders of these models in the U.S. due to Trump’s tariffs. The models remain in production for other markets. Jeep Compass - Mexico. Kia Soul - South Korea Kia Seltos - South Korea Kia Niro - South Korea Kia Sportage - United States Kia EV6 (exc. GT) - United States as of 2025 model year to take advantage of EV Tax Credit eligibility from the Biden Inflation Reduction Act. Kia EV6 GT - South Korea Range Rover Evoque - United Kingdom Discovery Sport - United Kingdom Lexus UX - Japan Lexus NX - Canada Lexus RZ - Japan Lincoln Corsair - Mexico Lincoln Nautilus - China Maserati Grecale - Italy Mazda CX-30 - Mexico Mazda CX-5 - Japan Mazda CX-50 - United States The Mazda CX-50 is produced in the United States, and until the tariffs, was exported to the Canadian market. Mazda has since shuffled production and will now supply the Canadian market from Japan. Mercedes-Benz GLA - Germany Mercedes-Benz GLB - Mexico Mercedes-Benz EQB - Hungary Mercedes-Benz GLC - Germany Mini, Mitsubishi, Porsche - Austria, Japan, and Germany respectively Nissan Kicks - Mexico Nissan Rogue - United States Polestar 2 - China Polestar 3 - United States Rivian R2 - United States (not in production yet) Rivian R3/R3X - United States (not in production yet) Subaru Crosstrek - Japan and starting in 2024 United States for select trims Subaru Forrester - Japan Tesla Model-Y - United States Toyota Corolla Cross - United States Toyota RAV-4 - United States and Canada Volkswagen Taos - Mexico Volkswagen Tiguan - Mexico Volkswagen ID.4 - United States Volvo EX30 - China Volvo EX40 - Belgium Volvo XC40 - Belgium Volvo C40 - Belgium Of this list of 70-ish small crossovers, only eleven models plus some versions of a twelfth are assembled in the United States. For the sixteen that are assembled in Canada or Mexico, they may possibly qualify for reduced or exempted tariffs if they can prove compliance with the USMCA. However, meeting the USMCA regulations is an arduous process for a product with as many components as a vehicle. A vehicle with a significant amount of components produced outside of the USMCA zone will likely fail to qualify for a tariff exemption. For example, a vehicle assembled in Canada may lose its tariff exemption if the steel used in its construction was purchased from China or the stamping took place outside of the USMCA zone. It’s a complex process for manufacturers to calculate, and some, such as Audi and Infiniti are simply opting to stop shipments for now. It’s likely that EVs built in Canada or Mexico that currently qualify for the tax credit from Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act will also qualify for a USMCA exemption. Some manufacturers are hit harder than others. Ford's recent smash hits, the Bronco Sport and Maverick truck are both built in Mexico and represent a significant portion of Ford's recent sales. Dodge, already struggling to move the Hornet crossover, will face significant price increases as it is not able to be exempted from tariffs via the USMCA. Toyota will gain an unusual prices advantage here with the RAV-4 and Corolla Cross being built in the United States, but can also afford to not discount prices much as demand will be higher. All of the burden of Trump's tariffs trickles down to the consumer eventually. Consumers will either pay higher taxes on imported vehicles, pay higher prices for manufacturers to comply with the USMCA, or lose choices and supply with lost model availability driving up the costs of the remaining options on the market. For one of the most competitive segments of the auto industry, this signals a time of turmoil with consumers taking the brunt of it. View full article

We're going to be in a huge natural gas crunch by next winter. I just locked in my rate for 12 months.

This is true. Cadillac has leapt out in front of the Germans on the EV front. Not just in tech, but broad visual appeal. The Cadillacs look significantly better than their BMW and MB counterparts. Only Audi is competitive in looks, but Cadillac eclipses them in range and self-driving tech. It's strange bedfellows that Genesis and Cadillac are luxury brand with the better tech and styling over the Germans for EVs.

Having worked in energy not long after this happened and going through SOX audits was..... fun

I would argue it's because they wouldn't sell regardless. Even the German ones don't sell in any number. Cadillac does have sport sedans and C&D just rated the CT5 V-Blackwing higher than the Germans.