. Major auto makers, whose fossil-fueled conveyances have ruled the world, are falling all over themselves to embrace the EV market. Volkswagen — dabbling in EVs since 2013 and going big since 2020 — said it sold 452,900 of them last year — a fraction of Tesla’s current output. General Motors CEO Mary Barra said in a February letter to shareholders that GM aims to produce more than 1 million EVs in little more than three years.
Dietmar Burkhardt, owner of the dealership Sunnyvale Volkswagen, noted that skyrocketing gas prices have hiked interest in EVs. Many drivers in the wealthy and tech-positive Bay Area are keener than ever to leave fossil fuels behind, with customers at his lot pre-ordering more than 300 of VW’s new electric ID.4 compact SUV“We have a lot of work to do,” Burkhardt acknowledged.
Tesla just started producing vehicles from a factory in Berlin, after opening a Shanghai factory in 2019 to serve the growing Chinese market. The firm plans to open a new factory in Austin early next month, and Musk tweeted this month that Tesla, already operating its Fremont factory at full capacity, is considering “expanding it significantly.”