Electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer Panasonic has announced plans to scale back product development in response to “rapidly reduced demand.” The company is slashing EV battery production at its Japan facilities by 60% compared to its first quarter output, and will also cut its full-year profit outlook at its battery unit by 15%.

Panasonic, a long-time supplier of the batteries in Tesla’s cars, pointed to the automaker’s expensive vehicles, which do not qualify for tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act, as a reason for the production slowdown. …

Umeda also noted the company’s EV battery business would have lost money in the second quarter of this year had it not been for subsidies granted to them under the Inflation Reduction Act.

[Remember: government doesn’t pick winners and losers. It picks losers, every single time, and especially in the green-tech sector. If EVs made sense for consumers, the demand would be there and the market would answer it. We have spent decades subsidizing and regulating in favor of EVs, and they still don’t make sense to consumers, for very good and rational reasons. — Ed]