Ford says it will burn $3 billion on EVs this year, in a bleak signal for the cars that underpin its future

 from the Insider

Ford said Thursday it's still losing billions of dollars on electric vehicles and it won't turn a profit on those cars for at least another three years.

Ford gave a peek into the financials for its electric vehicle business, known as Model e, for the first time Thursday. The Model e segment expects to report a full-year loss of $3 billion in 2023 alone, a stark sign that the company still has a long way to go before it makes money on the cars it says will lead its future.

Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler rationalized the expected losses on a call with reporters by explaining that Ford Model e exists as an "EV startup within Ford."

"As everyone knows, EV startups lose money while they invest in capability, develop knowledge, build volume, and gain share," Lawler said on the call.

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LA streetcar, November 1954

On the W Line, car 1389 was seen southbound on Marmion Way crossing Figueroa. (Metro Archive)

Present day Google Earth view

Gisborne NZ's battery electric tram circa 1920

This was opened in 1913, see earlier posts and our books for more.

SP's Oakland near San Francisco terminal mole, 1952 art

No other info, produced for a calendar?

1948-1954 Sunbeam Talbot 90

90 mph is 145 km/h which doesn't seem that fast, but was obviously enough to be remarkable at the time.

More info and pics

A double-headed steam train out of Wellington, late 1920s

A pair of Ab class 4-6-2 work hard, although none of the train is visible on the bridge over the Hutt Road, so one of them is probably a helper until the easy gradients are reached at Paekakariki.  This line, now the Johnsonville Branch, was the Main Trunk to Auckland at the time, until the Tawa deviation was built in the 1930s. It was originally built by private enterprise -- the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company.  Reclamation work in the harbour is obvious. Another train is on the Hutt Valley line but too amorphous to distinguish.

For lots more, see our books.

'I love spending time in a store full of real books'

'Quayside boats, Bideford', England art

 by Mike Bernard. Info

What makes a Ferrari worth Ferrari money?

from Eric Peters autos

It isn’t a battery.

Chief Technology Officer Michael Hugo Leiters says it’s a V12. The engine that makes a Ferrari sound like one. Not “virtually,” as via the emission of a recording, in the manner of remembering what something used to sound like. The real thing, right now. Leiters says people buy Ferraris for performance and emotion – his word – the latter being something as absent from electric cars as beef is from the Impossible Burger.

The engine defines what a Ferrari is; without it, what you have is what everyone else already has.

Put another way, Ferrari aims to do what Tesla did, except in reverse.

When Tesla began selling cars, it was the only car company selling electric cars. It thus presented something different – as opposed to something the same. A silent Tesla was the opposite of a V12-powered Ferrari such as the 812 GTS recently unveiled in Maranello – Ferrari’s headquarters in Italy. Both are extremely quick cars, but how they are quick is what makes each car not a replication of the other car. The Tesla’s driver stands on the accelerator pedal – EVs have no gas pedal – and the car surges forward silently.

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Mallard Class hedge, England

(Mike Jackson pic)