The battle of “electric versus every other powertrain” is an ongoing topic of debate. Automakers once had great ambitions of how quickly they expected the market to pick up battery-electric power, but have since scaled back their visions to a hybrid-heavy approach after the market failed to develop as quickly as originally predicted. But China has stuck with its commitment and that could lead to a very uneven future.
Welcome back to Critical Materials, your daily roundup for all things electric and automotive tech. Today, we’re chatting about the “godfather of EVs” and his hybrid warning, accusations of ‘slavery-like conditions’ at BYD’s new factory construction, and Hertz being so desperate to offload its fleet of Teslas that it’s asking renters to just buy them instead of returning. Let’s jump in.
30%: Godfather of EVs Calls Hybrids ‘A Road To Hell’
While Andy Palmer is most well-known for his stint as CEO of Aston Martin, some affectionately call him the “godfather of EVs” thanks to his role in developing one of the first mass-market battery-electric cars: the Nissan Leaf. (We’ll let any longtime fans of Tesla throw down in the comments if they disagree with that title, and we can certainly understand their consternation.)
While Nissan may not exactly be ahead of the game right now, the Leaf was pivotal for the BEV industry—which means Palmer’s words on EVs carry a bit of weight. In a recent interview with Business Insider, Palmer touched on how the West is losing the race for electrification supremacy. The winner? In his eyes, China, which essentially has a cheat code to winning thanks to the rest of the world’s weak commitment to electrification.
“Hybrids are a road to hell. They are a transition strategy, and the longer you stay on that transition, the less quickly you ramp up into the new world,” said Palmer during the interview. “If you just delay transitioning to EVs by diluting it with hybrids then you are more uncompetitive for longer, and you allow the Chinese to continue to develop their market and their leadership. I honestly think it’s a fool’s errand.”
Essentially, navigating the road to electrification is akin to walking a tightrope. China is going full-tilt, racing along the taught line with reckless abandon. On either side of its balancing pole are government subsidies meant to help the country’s EV makers across at great speed. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is competing in the EV Olympics over a safety net build by hybrids—and the longer they take to cross, the further ahead China gets.
Palmer’s real critique is that hybrids are merely a stopgap. His belief is that investment in these platforms simply delays the inevitable transition to folly electric platforms, diluting the market with uncompetitive cars while China extends its EV dominance across the industry.
This dominance is fueled by nearly $320 billion in government subsidies doled out by the Chinese government since 2009. The funds have helped China to invest heavily in EV tech and software, plus it created mass affordability with cars like BYD’s $10,000 Seagull. Not to mention battery giants like CATL have created some of the best-in-class battery technology on the market today.
“The Chinese cars are bloody good,” Palmer said, applauding the cars for having remarkable value. He later continued: “I think the Chinese firms will learn from competing in Europe, because that’s the toughest market in the world. If they can do that, then they’re going to be unbeatable.”
Palmer also warns that the global approach to using tariffs will not be effective in the long run. Protectionist measures only widen the gap, he warns, allowing the industry to become lazy and complacent with its innovations while China blasts ahead.
It’s worth noting that Palmer’s thoughts don’t represent industry consensus. Far from it. Many automakers, probably Toyota chief among them, see a long-term path for hybrids alongside—or perhaps even instead of—EVs. So nobody can agree on where and when relying on gasoline might end.
But while nothing is inherently wrong with the “multipathway” approach that many automakers are taking, Palmer’s advice rings true. A failure to commit means splitting efforts while China is pushing forward with electrification being its pathway of choice. And that could spell out some big problems for legacy automakers if the global market unevenly swings towards EVs in the future.
60%: BYD Faces Allegations Of ‘Slavery-Like Conditions’ At New Factory Construction
Photo by: BYD
China’s EV leader is facing some serious heat this week after Brazilian officials from the country’s Public Labor Prosecutor’s Office publicly accused it of having “slavery-like conditions” at the site of its newest factory construction in the country.
Fingers are pointed at a labor contractor hired by BYD, Jinjiang Group, which hired workers for the job. According to officials, 163 Chinese nationals were subjected to the conditions at the factory site in Bahia, Brazil. Jinjiang denies the allegations and attributes them to translation errors and misunderstandings of cultural differences. BYD has since cut ties with the firm.
Here’s what Reuters’ original report has to say:
In Brazil, “slavery-like conditions” include forced labor, but the term also covers debt bondage, degrading work conditions, long hours that pose a risk to workers’ health and any work that violates human dignity.
The workers had to request permission to leave their lodgings, and at least 107 also had their passports withheld by their employer, said labor inspector Liane Durao, adding that conditions at the work site were dangerous.“We found that the work of… these 163 workers was carried out in slavery-like conditions,” she said at a news conference. “Minimum safety conditions were not being met in the work environment.”
BBC says that other allegations against the company include workers being forced to sleep on beds without mattresses and sharing one bathroom for every 31 workers.
In a follow-up report, Reuters outlines Jinjiang’s denial of the accusations. Aside from the previously-mentioned cultural differences, Jinjiang also says that Brazilian inspectors have been “suggestive” when questioning workers at the BYD site, which may have added to the confusion around the allegations. The company also posted a video of one employee reading a letter jointly signed by 107 of the workers that reportedly clarifies some of the misconceptions, such as voluntarily supplying the company with their passports for assistance in applying for temporary IDs whereas Brazil accused Jinjiang of withholding the passports.
BYD’s general manager of branding and public relations, Li Yunfei, has since come out publicly against Brazil’s accusations. In a post on his personal Weibo, Yunfei accuses “foreign forces” of creating a public smear campaign against China and its EV brands.
Admittedly, the claims against BYD’s contractor—and by association, BYD—don’t look great. Even though the brand has cut ties with the company, it now faces an uphill battle to repair its image and get its construction back on track to ensure that it opens with the planned annual output capacity of 150,000 cars. BYD says that it is working with Brazilian authorities on the investigation.
The factory in Brazil was set to open in 2025 and be the first assembly location outside of Asia. Brazil, like many countries around the world, is set to hike import taxes on EVs beginning in July 2026, which puts BYD on a timer to get its factory up and running.
90%: Hertz Doesn’t Want Its Rented Teslas Back
Photo by: Tesla
Hertz is struggling to get rid of its stockpile of depreciating Teslas. The EVs—which were once billed as the keystone in their business plan for the future—have been burning a hole in their bottom line for years. Now the rental company wants out so badly that it’s trying to get buyers to just outright buy their rented Teslas instead of returning them.
One extremely compelling offer was first posted to Reddit (and reported on by CarScoops) by someone who currently had one of Hertz’s rentals. According to the post, Hertz sent an email to the renter soliciting them to take home the very car they were driving instead of returning it.
The car being offered up to the buyer was a 2023 Tesla Model 3 with under 30,000 miles. And the price? $17,913—which, frankly, seems like a freaking steal and even had folks in the comments asking “what’s wrong with it?” for the price.
Not all Tesla Model 3s seem to be this cheap, either. On Hertz’s website, the cheapest Model 3 is a 2022 model with 155,235 miles for $17,921. 2023 Model 3s start at around $23,000 for 60,000 miles—which is still a hefty discount but close in price to what Tesla offers similar used inventory vehicles at.
Perhaps renting a Model 3 is a condition of being offered some undocumented discounts from Hertz. It could also be Hertz’s secret weapon for clearing out its backlog of Model 3s: rent one, get a feeling of instant torque and cheap charging, then jump on the FOMO train by getting an offer you simply can’t refuse. Honestly, it seems like a pretty sound plan, and judging by the comments on Reddit, quite a few people seem like they would consider jumping on the opportunity.
Of course, there’s the question of whether or not you should buy a former rental car. One could assume that the charging has been mostly DC fast charging, and we’ve seen some pretty daunting photos of Hertz-owned Teslas over the years. But at a nearly $8,000 discount and an 8-year battery warranty, some of those unknowns become a bit more stomachable.
100%: Would You Trade Range For Price?
Photo by: Electrify America
Going back to our first story, Palmer recognized that one of the reasons consumers still aren’t buying EVs is simply because they’re too expensive. One potential solution he identified was selling cheaper EVs with smaller batteries. That makes the biggest trade-off the range.
Palmer said that smaller batteries would require heavy government subsidies to bolster national charging networks. So, sure, less range, but more places to charge. But if more cars are charging more often, that could also mean more clogged-up charging stalls as EVs and public charging unevenly grow together.
All of that being said, would you buy a cheaper EV with a smaller battery if the charging infrastructure were better? Or are you deterred by cold weather sapping range during road trips and the uncertainty of how well that path could play out? Let me know in the comments.
