When there’s just the slightest dip in electric vehicle growth, we get to see the spiders come out of the baseboards. We’re not even talking about EV sales decline. We’re just talking slower EV sales growth. Nonetheless, a handful of legacy automakers have taken the opportunity to poo-poo the transition to EVs and even cut back on their EV transition plans. Two popped up in recent weeks who I have to admit do not surprise me at all.

Honda has been in contention for the “Biggest EV Laggard Award” for years. It has taken slow-walking to an all new level, like the sloth in Zootopia. And it apparently has no shame in that regard. In fact, the company may still be doing its best to win that award.

President and CEO of American Honda Kazuhiro Takizawa told The Drive last month that “You can’t force the customer to change their mind [and] we just can’t force the people living in, say, the Midwest, with no charging stations.” First of all, there are charging stations in the Midwest, a lot of them. Secondly, Honda isn’t anywhere close to forcing anyone. The company wouldn’t build a real electric car for years upon years, even as EVs rose to a major portion of auto sales. Honda finally has a decent EV for sale, but it was basically built by GM and has a Honda shell on top. In other words, Honda still isn’t really trying. Or, to be more business-y about it, Honda’s IP and auto development is tied up in non-electric automobiles and the company is far behind other automakers in trying to develop EVs. So, yes, naturally, they don’t want the EV transition to speed up, or to happen at all.