Apple cancels the Apple Car.

The destruction of the electric car fad accelerates! This time, Apple has very quietly cancelled all work on its Apple electric car.

 

It's dead, Tim.

 

The decision to ultimately wind down the project is a bombshell for the company, ending a multibillion-dollar effort that would have vaulted Apple into a whole new industry. The tech giant started working on a car around 2014, setting its sights on a fully autonomous electric vehicle with a limousine-like interior and voice-guided navigation. But the project struggled nearly from the start, with Apple changing the team's leadership and strategy several times. Lynch and Williams took over the undertaking a few years ago -- following the departure of Doug Field, now a senior executive at Ford Motor.

Note that they mentioned Ford, which has stopped shipping the electric F-150, and a couple of weeks ago cancelled a $12 billion expansion into... electric cars. General Motors has also cut back hard on electric car plans recently. Toyota never had any electric plans, they dodged the whole thing and saved themselves a ton of money.

This good news of course makes me suspicious. Nothing good ever happens these days.

Did all these guys look into their crystal balls and see a looming bankruptcy that was previously invisible? Did they all suddenly understand what power engineers, town planners, car guys, car dealerships, rental companies, and literally everybody with two functioning synapses to rub together, has been telling them since Tesla started? Really? All of them? Right now?

What changed between February 2023 and February 2024? Last year it was full power forward on electrics and self-driving cars. Billions were being spent, billions more were being promised. There was going to be an EV in every driveway by 2035, baby. The Canadian government has gone so far as to -mandate- that there will be only EVs sold after 2035 here in Canuckistan. No more gas guzzlers for you, Great White North. Nothing about government rhetoric has changed. They are all-in on transition to EVs. It is a done-deal.

Except that all the big car companies bailed, and now Apple, literally the biggest tech company in the world, has bailed.

It makes me wonder if the US government made a phone call and told them all that the discounts, tax breaks and special deals were off the table. That would explain it better than assuming all those companies suddenly understood that EVs suck. They knew that already. They were going ahead, knowing that nobody wants EVs, nobody likes EVs, and nobody is going to buy EVs.

Why would the US government make that phone call? Hmm?

No more roads for Canada.

Environment Canada approved.

 

Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault says that you will enjoy your gridlock, or there will be trouble.

"Our government has made the decision to stop investing in new road infrastructure," said Guilbeault, who represents the Quebec riding of Laurier-Sainte-Marie. "Of course, we will continue to be there for cities, provinces and territories to maintain the existing network, but there will be no more envelopes from the federal government to enlarge the road network.
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"The analysis we have done is that the network is perfectly adequate to respond to the needs we have. And thanks to a mix of investment in active and public transit and in territorial planning and densification, we can very well achieve our goals of economic, social and human development without more enlargement of the road network."

Guilbeault also said money spent on asphalt and concrete for road expansions would be better invested in projects that will help fight climate change and adapt to its impacts, the Gazette reported.

To me, this says a few things. First, Mr. Guilbeault is a gentleman of questionable intellect. Not news, sadly.

Second, the federal government might be having some money problems. Highways are expensive, and saying you're not building any more to save Mother Gaia is a great excuse to save the money. Or so a midwit apparently thinks.

Third, a Federal cabinet minister saying something like that out loud indicates a certain desperation to display his virtue in the face of coming doom.

Finally, this man thinks he and his fellow politicians are in charge of "economic, social and human development" in this country. They see all, they know all, they have set the goals and they shall achieve them. No need for new roads, peasants. Your betters have decided how everything is going to be. You will walk, and you will like it.

There used to be this guy in Germany who talked like that. Had a funny mustache, loved dogs.