Introduction
The automotive industry faces a critical moment. Dealerships—both family-owned and large-scale franchises—are at risk due to evolving OEM strategies focused on direct-to-consumer sales, particularly under the guise of sustainability through Electric Vehicles (EVs). This movement is positioning EVs as the only solution to environmental concerns, overshadowing more practical, impactful, and accessible alternatives.
While we agree that environmental responsibility is crucial, we recognize that EVs are not a one-size-fits-all solution and present significant trade-offs that remain unaddressed.

The Situation
For over a century, dealerships have served as a backbone of their communities, providing jobs, driving local economies, and offering personalized service. However, with the growing push towards EVs, some OEMs are looking to cut dealerships out, aiming to increase profits through direct sales models and are using EVs as a loophole around franchise protection laws.

The Reality of EV Sustainability

1. Intensive Mining and Production - It takes up to 90 times more mining to produce a single EV than it does to manufacture a hybrid.
2. Energy Concerns - Less than 25% of the U.S. grid currently relies on renewable energy, meaning the shift to EVs simply relocates emissions.
3. Battery Disposal - EV battery disposal presents a significant challenge. With a recent incident in which a battery recycling plant explosion caused evacuations due to toxic fumes.
4. Infrastructure Concerns - The United States, from a perspective of infrastructure, is not able to support an entire country driving EVs. A costly, unnecessary, and cumbersome rebuild of our electrical grid is necessary to suffice the power needed to shift to EVs.

Our Commitment: Real, Local, and Impactful Sustainability
To support a genuine and accessible approach to environmental stewardship, dealerships across the country are joining the Drive Carbon Neutral Program. This program is a practical, cost-effective solution that:

• Offsets emissions of each vehicle enrolled through the planting of 75 trees per vehicle, compensating for its carbon footprint.
• Supports community engagement – Through partnerships with local schools and planting events, dealerships strengthen ties with their customers and communities.
• Strengthens the franchise model – Combining additional funding with a solid counter argument, the Drive Carbon Neutral Program helps dealers prove that there is a better way to improve sustainability in automotive. 
• Repositions dealers as the hero of our planet – Since mankind has started manufacturing, we are down 46% of our tree count. Not only will reforestation accomplish the goal to reduce carbon emissions, a tremendous amount of additional benefits will derive from taking this approach vs. transitioning to EVs; including but not limited to: improving biodiversity by creating homes for wildlife, filtering water run off that flows into our water sources, regulating climate locally as well as globally, slowing erosion and protecting coastal conditions, raising water tables and improving purity, improving soil quality, creating jobs, stabilizing farms, increasing crop yields, and even the improving society’s mental health. 

Thank you for helping strengthen the dealership network while supporting an alternative for the automotive industry to be more sustainable.

https://www.kbb.com/car-news/report-toyota-can-build-90-hybrids-or-1-ev
https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3
https://www.firstalert4.com/2024/11/13/epa-releases-findings-air-monitoring-near-exploded-fredericktown-battery-plant/
https://www.usfunds.com/resource/so-what-happens-to-the-grid-when-everyone-drives-an-electric-vehicle/
https://www.nationalforests.org/tree-planting-programs/climate#:~:text=For%20every%20%242%20you%20donate,the%20life%20of%20those%20trees.
https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle#:~:text=typical%20passenger%20vehicle%3F-,A%20typical%20passenger%20vehicle%20emits%20about%204.6%20metric%20tons%20of,8%2C887%20grams%20of%20CO2.
https://www.thezebra.com/resources/driving/average-length-of-car-ownership/#:~:text=Key%20findings%3A-,Americans%20own%20their%20longest%2Dkept%20cars%20for%20an%20average%20of,for%205%20years%20or%20less.
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 https://treepeople.org/22-benefits-of-trees/