Hyperdrive

Cooling EV Sales Have Tesla, GM and Ford Rethinking Investments

  • Elon Musk says squeezed consumers can’t afford expensive EVs
  • Gas-powered Chevy Blazer costs $37,000; EV version is $56,000

Tesla vehicles at a delivery center in Marina Del Rey, California.

Photographer: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg

After years of pumping cash into the sizzling electric-vehicle market, Tesla Inc. and other major automakers are facing a new dilemma: what to do when demand chills.

While the battery-powered vehicle market is still expanding, the pace of growth has slowed considerably. As a result, Tesla, the world’s EV leader, and legacy automakers that had been spending at breakneck speeds to build their electric car businesses, are now taking a more cautious approach to investments.