By Kevin Morrison
It might feel like a lifetime ago, but it was just last week analysts began talking about fuel rationing in Australia.
This week, that prospect seems less likely. A temporary ceasefire in the Iran war has been announced, even as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese heads off to Singapore – a crucial refinery hub – to firm up fuel supplies.
United States President Donald Trump has pledged a two-week ceasefire, while Iran has pledged safe passage for ships through the crucial Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world’s oil is shipped.
Does this mean the fuel crisis is over? Not by half. In its response to US-Israeli bombing, Iran didn’t just block the strait – it targeted the oil and gas infrastructure of its neighbours. Repairs will take months.
Serious fuel shortages are now hitting many nations hard – especially poorer ones such as the Philippines, Pakistan and Thailand.
Australia is in a better position, as it is wealthier and can pay more for fuel. As a major exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and thermal coal, it also has leverage with the Asian nations who refine most of Australia’s liquid fuels.
This will help in the short term. Longer term, the energy vulnerability this crisis has exposed has to be solved by winding down reliance on oil imports.
A ceasefire, not an end
Iran announced the closure of the strait the day the war began, February 28. Over the following 37 days, nations have scrambled to try to find alternate supplies or workarounds to avoid the bottleneck of the Strait of Hormuz.
Even if the ceasefire holds, it won’t magically resolve the oil crisis. Tightness of supply will persist for months. The war has effectively removed about 11 million barrels a day from the market – roughly halving the flow of oil through the strait, according to shipping data.
Even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens as Iran has promised, it won’t mean shipping can instantly return to pre-war levels.
Damage to oil refineries and pipelines in many countries will limit supply, while insurance rates and shipping costs may remain prohibitively high for some time.
Iran’s missiles have done significant damage to infrastructure in major oil and gas exporters such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
The crisis has driven prices of refined fuels such as diesel and jet fuel to record heights – well over US$200 a barrel.
How is Australia getting supplies?
Australia imports about 90% of its liquid fuels, largely as petrol and diesel. Some comes as crude oil to be processed at our two remaining refineries.
When Albanese goes to Singapore, he goes not only as a customer but as a major seller of the LNG and coal many regional trading partners rely on. Australia imports most of its fuels from Singaporean and South Korean refineries, but it also exports LNG to Singapore and LNG and thermal coal to Korea.
What Albanese will be focused on is not so much petrol as diesel. Surprisingly, Australia is the world’s single largest importer of diesel, though not the largest consumer.
The fuel is a mainstay for trucks and heavy equipment, due to the combination of high power output and efficiency offered by diesel engines. Farmers also rely heavily on diesel for their machinery and transport. The mining sector accounts for around 35% of Australia’s diesel use through trucks and back-up generators at remote mines.
Compared to petrol users, most diesel users have no alternative. Petrol is mainly used in cars in cities. If petrol prices are too high, car owners could switch to public transport. But truckies and farmers don’t have other options.
The supply crunch isn’t just affecting oil – it’s fertilisers and other oil-derived products as well. For Australian farmers, this is unwelcome, as most fertilisers are imported and local production is low.
Calls for more drilling are misguided
Australia uses about one million barrels of oil a day. Even during its heyday in the 1970s, the local oil industry never came close to that. Australia has huge gas reserves, which is why so many gas companies are active, but very little conventional oil. The Gippsland Basin, one of the richest sources of oil, is now running dry.
Is there more? Yes, but not much. Geoscience Australia estimates our proven commercial reserves are around 229 million barrels of oil. That sounds like a lot, but given how much we burn, that’s about seven months. After that it would all be gone. This is why calls to drill more oil are misguided.
If Australia had commercially viable oil, the oil companies would be here trying to extract it. It’s significant that they’re not. Unconventional oil reserves are likely to be much larger, but the controversial technique of fracking has to be used to access these. Queensland is spruiking its Taroom Trough oil reserves, but these are unproven and would require fracking.
Wilder calls to look at coal to liquids and gas to liquids don’t stack up. Other alternate fuels such as hydrogen and biofuels haven’t panned out commercially on a large scale.
There’s only one realistic alternative to oil: avoiding it altogether. Battery and electric vehicle costs have fallen very sharply in just a few years and keep getting cheaper. That’s why the simplest, quickest solution is to go electric.
As electric vehicles (EVs) surge in popularity, they’re likely to reduce demand for petrol at first, not diesel. That’s because passenger cars tend to run on petrol, and EVs are most viable at this size.
But change is coming for diesel machinery too. Iron ore magnate Twiggy Forrest has invested heavily in heavy duty electric mining machinery, replacing large volumes of diesel. Many miners in China have gone down this route too.
From oversupply to undersupply
It’s easy to forget that before the attacks on Iran, the world was facing a perceived oversupply of oil. China’s demand for refined fuels is falling as it electrifies, while the US has become the world’s top producer.
These concerns about oversupply have gone out the window because so much capacity has been knocked offline. We could be well into the southern winter before we see supplies returning to more comfortable levels.
For many people in Australia and around the world, that likely means more months of fuel price pain.
Kevin Morrison is Industry Fellow at the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney.
Ray W. says
According to a new Moneywise story, Qatar’s energy minister stated that if the Strait of Hormuz did not open in two weeks crude oil prices would reach $150 per barrel.
Make of this what you will.
Pogo says
The solution is right under mankind’s nose…
https://www.google.com/search?q=Allegory+of+the+Long+Spoons
Ray W. says
The Motley Fool reports that the Cleveland Fed has a proprietary inflation forecasting tool based on a “trailing 12-month” algorithm, called Nowcasting.
On February 2d, the TTM was 2.40%. On April 2d, the TTM had risen to 3.25%. By April 8th, the TTM had hit 3.56%.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Most economic modeling looks backward. The TTM algorithm is claimed to look forward. I found a central Fed paper that claims that, over its near-12-year use, the TTM Nowcasting tool is more reliable than other forecasting models.
Still, I can’t help but be skeptical. Wars are so unpredictable. Will the Strait open tomorrow? Next month? Next August? The Iran War certainly has not yet been won by anyone.
Ray W. says
The Telegraph reports that Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, recently embarked on a regional quest to secure for his country future supplies of diesel fuel and gasoline.
Apparently, Australia has two refineries left of the eight it operated 25 years ago. And, Australia never did build a large network of fuel storage tank farms.
Today, with the potential of long-term future shortages of crude oil indirectly threatening the Australian economy, the country’s long dependence on diesel fuel for mining operations and agricultural production has forced the government into action.
It has set aside nearly $1.5 billion for spot market purchases of fuel, as needed. And, PM Albanese recently secured a deal with Singapore’s Prime Minister to provide to Singapore Australian supplies of natural gas in exchange for Australia’s right to purchase gasoline and diesel fuel from Singapore’s large complex of refineries, the third-largest complex of refineries in the world behind Houston and Rotterdam. Singapore’s PM did warn that the deal was contingent on future “upstream” flows of crude oil reaching the refineries.
Next on the travel itinerary is Brunei. Indonesia is said to have already guaranteed fertilizer to help with Australia’s agricultural demand.
It isn’t that Australia doesn’t have crude oil reserves. The issue is that what crude oil that still exists is too expensive to extract compared to costs of buying from other regions of the world, i.e., the lowest-hanging Australian fruit was extracted long ago.
And, estimated costs to expand current fuel storage tank capacity all over the country to a 90-day reserve are at about $15 billion.
PM Albanese said that the Hormuz crisis has put rest to the idea that for Australia “there would always be someone else, somewhere else, who would sell us what we needed cheaper than we could make it ourselves.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
All over the world, government leaders are shocked to find themselves heavily dependent on buying from someone else somewhere else fossil fuels with few attractive short-term alternatives. Nations will soon be haggling over ever smaller quantities of crude oil and natural gas.
LNG export plants, according to Cheniere Energy’s founder, take between six and seven years to build. Natural gas turbine manufacturers are backlogged with orders; they are years behind delivery of existing orders. American drillers think the disruption short-term; they have barely begun to ramp up new drilling activity after more than six weeks of war. Do too few countries have the refinery base needed to buffer fuel disruptions? How quickly can other nations ramp up drilling when no one has been drilling in those countries for some time? Opposition politicians in Great Britain are demanding that increasingly small pockets of oil be immediately drilled, even though it will take years to begin drilling. What is the construction timeline needed to expand an inadequate nationwide network of fuel tank farms?
Expert after expert says this is the biggest energy disruption in history. If they are correct, is it possible that business models long in use all over the world are suddenly in the trash can?
Ray W. says
Each month, the U.S.-based Energy Information Agency (EIA) publishes an Oil Market Report. The report for March 2026 was released earlier today. Here are a few bullet points from the report:
– For the month of February 2026, projections were that demand for crude oil for all of 2026 would average an increase of 650k barrels per day (bpd). That figure has been revised to a projected average demand loss per day for the full year of 80k bpd, a 730k bpd downward swing.
– As of February 2026, worldwide projected daily supply of crude oil was to average 107.1 mbpd. The figure for the year, including March supply number, has been revised downward by 10.1 mbpd, on average, to an average supply of 97.0 mbpd.
– OPEC+ crude oil output for March 2026, on average, skidded by 9.4 mbpd, month-over month.
– Non-OPEC+ crude oil output, on average, lessened by 770k bpd, month-over-month, in March 2026.
– Through the first two weeks in April, crude oil throughput in Asian refineries shrank by 6.0 mbpd, compared to prewar throughput.
– Global observed oil inventories tanked by 85 million barrels in March 2026, when compared to February’s number.
– The floating barrels of crude oil number for March 2026 rose by 100 million barrels because so many tankers are trapped on the wrong side of the Strait of Hormuz.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Because President Trump undid sanctions on oil tankers filled with Iranian crude, international crude oil buyers are now able to pay Iran at now-high prices. Russian oil stranded on sanctioned tankers, too, can be sold at whatever the market can command. But the oil stranded in tankers anchored on the wrong side of the Strait has to wait to be sold.
Thus far, then, worldwide demand for crude oil has dropped by 730k bpd, while worldwide supply is down by 10.1 mbpd. Throughout the month of March, tankers that had exited the Strait prior to outbreak of war were still reaching ports, but that Persian Gulf two-way traffic has almost entirely stopped. Many of those emptied tankers are seeking out more distant ports to refill.
Worldwide crude oil reserves are dropping and the drop will likely accelerate unless something is done to narrow the demand-supply gap. The IEA approval to draw down 400 million barrels from the many national strategic petroleum reserves will aid in filling the demand-supply gap, but only for only so long.
Ray W. says
Al Jazeera reports that 279 vessels have entered or exited the Strait of Hormuz since bombing began 46 days ago on February 28, 2026, just under six per day on average.
Make of this what you will.
Ray W. says
An Africanews reporter offered a different perspective on national energy dependency during the Hormuz crisis.
A organization known as the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) represents the energy interests of 74 countries that have comparatively small, yet emerging, economies. The populations of this bloc add up to 20% or so of the world’s total population, but combined they consume 5% of the world’s electricity. Many in these 74 smaller countries have no access to electricity.
So, the reporter tries to address, how do these country’s best address their energy needs?
She described the traditional path of adding fossil fuels-powered plants.
She quoted Daan Walters, Principle of Ember Futures, an energy think tank:
“It has long been argued that the only path to economic development needs fossil fuels. But the current energy crisis has again exposed how fragile that path is, especially for emerging economies that spend billions each year on fuel imports. … The difference today is that a credible alternative exists: electrotechnical is now cheaper, widely available, easily scalable and offers the prospect of energy independence and abundance to drive growth.”
In the setting of the story, electrotechnical means solar panels, battery storage stations and the specialized equipment needed for these types of power plants.
In the reporter’s description, ten years ago, upfront costs for electrotechnical power installation costs were five times the upfront costs for fossil fuels power plants. Today, electrotechnical upfront costs have dropped to below those costs required for fossil fuels installation.
And even where centralized electricity grid power lines exist, communities more than a few miles from the closest power lines are now better off, cost wise, by installing off-grid solar and battery storage systems rather than paying more to connect to new transmission lines branching off from the centralized grid.
This from an Ember Futures study:
“The traditional fossil-based development model has failed to reach [small-scale energy consumers] at scale. For countries with limited state capacity and high borrowing costs, this lumpy, centralized capital-intensive fossil path has always been a tall order.”
According to the reporter, half of the CVF countries already have an electrotechnical share of national power generation greater than the share in the U.S.
A CVF finance director told the reporter:
“This is an epochal shift in humanity’s energy story, and vulnerable developing countries are at the heart of the increasingly rapid electrotech transition toward clean energy futures and climate prosperity.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
I have lived through many fossil fuel boom and bust cycles. The oil embargo imposed by OPEC in 1973 was a big upheaval. So were the back-to-back energy shocks during the Iran-Iraq War. At seven, my summer vacation with my then-five siblings was camping to Denver and back. With a pop-up trailer and supplies for eight, the Buick Vista Cruiser was underpowered, even with the 350 c.i. V-8. Five mpg brought about an unexpected extra trip cost and I remember my parents beginning to talk about how to cut spending. Trip costs had been planned out and when the radiator failed on a hot Arkansas day, allocated trip money became tight. We all watched like hawks for signs for cheap gasoline. I recall a “gas war” sign in remote Oklahoma: 16.9 cents per gallon.
So, here we are today. If the story is true, if it truly now does cost less upfront to build a solar and battery storage system as opposed to building a fossil fuel power plant, then that explains why FP&L has stopped building natural gas-fired power plants. The last American coal-fired plant opened in 2012. Sunlight is free. Natural gas and coal are not.
Exactly what is the value of energy independence to a developing nation with an emerging economy. Just what is the value of a comparatively inexpensive source of electricity that does not require the import of fossil fuels, fuels that are inherently volatile in costs?
Yes, America may be the only country in the world where many of its citizens will agree for political reasons to pay higher electricity bills so that they can proudly continue to support a comparatively expensive coal industry.
Earlier today, I went to the ERCOT Fuel Mix site. At 11:31 am CT, only 3,939 MWs of coal-fired power generation, out of an available total of 13,705 MWs of power generation, were in operation. Of the 68,388 MWs of available natural gas generating capacity, only 14,980 MWs of power were being generated. 33% of ERCOT grid demand was being met by fossil fuels plants. 67% of ERCOT demand was coming from wind and solar, and it is a warm (low-80’s), breezy, not gusty, partly cloudy day across Texas. I don’t know what the percentage of solar and wind supply would be on a sunny gusty day, but it seems clear that ERCOT buys every last kilowatt of available solar and wind power before it orders any additional gas and coal electricity generation.
Ray W. says
A cold front is moving through Texas. Cloudy skies and calm winds reportedly are settling in. Temperatures are down compared to yesterday.
From an active ERCOT site, grid demand, compared to yesterday, is down. Solar and wind power provides at 12:41 pm CT 64.1% of the power being supplied to meet demand. Battery storage is drawing off 2.3% of the supply. Nuclear adds 7.0% to the mix. Natural gas is at 21.5% of supply and coal comes in at 9.0%.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Just another mild April day in Texas. Moderate demand for electricity. No extreme weather events that force opening of the most expensive and least efficient of ERCOT’s more than 1,460 operable power plants.
Coal is no longer king. Natural gas is fading away in grid relevance.
Yes, remote locations where a data center can be placed near a large number of natural gas wells might see construction of new gas turbine power plants. It ought to be obvious that ERCOT first purchases for distribution all of the solar and wind power it can get. Then, as a fallback, it buys gas- and coal-generated power to fill any demand-supply gap. Each new solar or wind farm that joins the grid will lessen the need for fossil fuel-derived electricity.
Pogo says
And furthermore
… change is the actual constant; now is the only now. Whatever the future will be, it will be different, necessity wins every argument:
As stated
https://www.google.com/search?q=oil+demand+destruction
A refresher
https://www.google.com/search?q=necessity
Ray W. says
Road & Track reports that MG, a brand that transferred from Rover to Chinese ownership in 2005, is first to commercial production with a semi-solid-state lithium-manganese-oxide EV battery. So far, about 2,500 MG4’s have been sold in the Chinese market. But wide release into the European market is to take place later in 2026.
According to the reporter, the two dominant liquid-state battery chemistries in use today contain 20% by volume liquid electrolytes, the medium through which electrons pass when they travel between battery terminals. MG’s new “SolidCore” battery is 5% by volume liquid gel electrolyte. The battery stores up to 180 Wh/kg and it charges from 30%-80% in 20 minutes. Cold weather performance, a drawback in liquid-state lithium ion batteries, is improved by 13.7% at -7 degrees C. Fire resistance in standardized cell penetration nail tests is significantly improved compared to liquid-state batteries. No word from what I can find on number of charging cycles before degradation to below 80% of original battery capacity.
As for the MG4, the compact hatchback comes with a 53.95 kWh battery capacity, good for a range of about 330 miles under the Chinese test standard, the CLTC. Base motor horsepower is 163.
Price in the European market is said to be from $28,000 base to $31,200.
Make of this what you will.
Ray W. says
The Independent reports that a coal-fired power plant, commissioned into operation in 2009, suffered a high-pressure pipe failure. The plant, located in India, lost 14 workers in the rupture. Investigations into cause are underway.
Make of this what you will.
Ray W. says
As background, in 2010, Ford sold Volvo to Chinese carmaker, Geely.
According to a story published by Yahoo.finance, after Volvo opened a South Carolina factory in mid-2018, with a planned maximum output capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year, in 2023, the factory produced at 13% of capacity.
According to a South Carolina Daily Gazette article, for 2024, factory output had increased to 20% of capacity.
Questions have been raised about how best the spare factory production capacity should be used.
What follows is only a thought exercise.
In 2024, former President Biden added on top of the long existing 2.5% U.S. tariff on imports of all types of cars and light trucks an additional 100% tariff on Chinese EV’s of all types.
President Trump has since commented that he might permit Chinese EV’s into the U.S. car marketplace tariff-free if they are assembled in the U.S.
Digital Trends reports that Geely just introduced its new compact SUV, the Boyue EREV. The Boyue EREV model is available with two battery options.
The smaller optional battery, energy dense enough to store 28.3 kWh of power, allows a drive of an estimated 137 miles before the 1.5 liter, 218 hp, four-cylinder gasoline engine starts up to drive a generator to keep the EV battery charged. That version of the SUV weighs 3,483 pounds. That battery charges from 30% to 80% in 15 minutes.
Price in China at current exchange rate? $14,900.
The larger battery, 50.4 kWh in capacity, allows for a range of 233 miles before needing engine backup. Battery and gas range with the larger battery, combined, is a claimed 948 miles. This version of the SUV weighs 3,638 pounds.
Chinese price? $16,700.
Could the Geely Boyue EREV compact SUV be assembled as a Volvo in Volvo’s South Carolina factory and then be distributed and serviced through Volvo’s existing dealership network? Would such a vehicle find a viable space in the American market at those prices? How much more could Volvo charge for the vehicle and still be price competitive?
For comparison, Hyundai’s compact SUV EV, the Ionic 5, starts here at $35,000.
Pogo says
In a nutshell:
“…China dominates global automobile manufacturing with 31.3 million units produced in 2024, accounting for nearly one-third of the world’s total output. The United States follows in second place with 10.6 million units, while Japan ranks third with 8.2 million units…”
https://search.brave.com/search?q=automobile+manufacturing+production+capacity+by+country
“…China’s automobile manufacturing sector faces a severe glut of unused capacity, with factories built to produce nearly 40 million internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles annually—roughly twice the number of cars the domestic market currently demands. This overcapacity is driven by a rapid shift toward electric vehicles (EVs), which has caused sales of gasoline-powered cars to plummet from 28.3 million in 2017 to 17.7 million last year, leaving many plants mothballed or running at a fraction of their capacity…”
https://search.brave.com/search?q=china+unused+automobile+manufacturing+production+capacity
Ray W. says
Hello Pogo. Thank you.
Skibum says
But the orange brainiac in the WH somehow thinks that renewable energy is “bad”, LOL! He tried to reinvigorate, reincarnate the “clean” coal industry in the U.S. even after those former industry officials said that coal was dead and they were never going back into the production model that the idiot prez was pushing.
Every chance he gets, his face hole vomits ridiculous lies about wind machines causing cancer!!! Is it not obvious to the maga mush brains that his wealthy oil company CEO buddies are fleecing America and lining their own pockets, and he wants their continued support? He is always sending his son-in-law over to Saudi Arabia, where both the Kushner and his own family business has personal business interests and ties to the kingdom’s oil rich family run government, so he is never going to enact any policies here in the U.S. that diminish the oil industry.
He scratches their backs, they hug his cankles.
Ray W. says
I submit to FlaglerLive readers the hypothesis presented in a recent story posted by The Street that the theory about Pangea suggests that huge quantities of crude oil and natural gas exist off the northeastern coastline of South America.
The reporter argues that large reserves of crude oil and natural gas exist off the southwestern coast of Nigeria and other neighboring African countries. If the continents of Africa and South American drifted apart, as the theory of Pangea posits, then it stands to reason that large reserves of crude oil and natural gas should also exist off the coast of South America where the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean.
According to the article, more than 40 exploratory wells off the coast of Guyana came up dry. An Exxon Mobil geologist insisted that oil could be found in Guyana’s Stabroek block, but the seafloor depth of his predicted find was 1,700 feet below the surface, and his estimated likelihood was a 20% chance that the drill would be successful. Exxon Mobile agreed to drill one more exploratory well where the geologist thought best, but the company hedged its $225 million in drilling costs by bringing in two partners.
The drill succeeded beyond expectations. Oil field estimates now exceed $1.1 trillion in expected value and the Stabroek block has not yet been fully explored. By the end of 2026, the Exxon Mobile’s shared deepwater project is expected to reach extraction of one million barrels of crude oil per day.
Oil has since been found off the coast of neighboring Suriname. Brazil is expanding its own long-term substantial off-shore crude oil production.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Pogo is right that change is the only constant in life. 20 years ago, the Permian Basin was thought played out. Production in the Basin had declined over the decades to just under one million barrels of crude oil per day. National crude oil production as of late 2008 had dipped to a multi-decade low monthly average of 4.7 million barrels per day. America was heavily dependent on imports of crude oil.
But a technological breakthrough in 3D seismic imaging and a mechanical breakthrough in horizontal drilling methodology, and a chemistry breakthrough in fracking fluid compounds led to what is today called in the industry as the Shale Revolution. Now, drillers can locate from the surface the richest oil deposits using 3D imaging and they can then mechanically direct the horizontal bores into those richest of deposits and then they cam employ the new fracking fluids to release greater quantities of crude oil per foot of bore.
A few years ago, newly developed deepwater drilling equipment received certification for use. Oil deposits at depths never before considered accessible are being found all over the world.
Do drilling dangers persist? Yes! Can destructive oil well blowouts occur? Certainly! Will we continue to throw good taxpayer money after in direct subsidies for the fossil fuel industry to the tune of some $15 to $20 billion a year? Probably!
Don’t get me wrong. In 2025, for the first time, worldwide installation of new sources of renewables outpaced worldwide increases in electricity demand. We are nowhere close right now to reducing worldwide reliance on fossil fuels for energy, but Pogo’s philosophy of the inevitable nature of change is accelerating toward a reliable and less costly energy future sans fossil fuels.
The half-full glass of the future is refilling.
Pogo says
Hello Mr. W.
Thank you.
I would add this observation about the information you share about the emergence of large potential sources of oil, gas, etc. — all the current stakeholders must be keenly aware of these matters.
Could it reasonably be inferred that some who are currently in a position of special advantage are wisely preparing for the time when others take their place?
Ray W. says
Hello Pogo.
My position is simple. As solar and wind and battery storage units decrease in build cost, and they will continue to decrease in build cost, the more and more relevant becomes the question of who will profit from the inexorable growth in the renewable energy future.
As recently as 20 years ago, American innovation and ingenuity led the world in all things electric. No more. In the name of a fossil fuel future, we poured billions of taxpayer dollars of subsidies into oil and gas companies. Now, we are seeing the results of our national stupidity. We are nowhere near energy independence.
Billions and billions of dollars in renewable energy profits now flow to foreign manufacturers who are spread all over the world. Those profits could be flowing to American factory owners.
Ford’s CEO repeatedly says that the Big 3 American legacy automakers will not survive if Chinese EV’s are imported sans tariffs into the American car marketplace. He claims we are 10 years behind the Chinese in EV development and build quality. Ford is nearly completely changing the way it designs and builds vehicles in hopes of catching up.
This issue isn’t new. In the 1970s, as Japanese car production numbers grew, all-new Japanese factories were designed around the latest manufacturing theories. The Big 3 kept building cars in decades-old factories using outdated assembly methods. Finally, the light came on and the Big 3 built their own new factories using the latest manufacturing theories. Suddenly, American carmakers competed with Japan’s on build quality.