EVs won over US early adopters, but mainstream buyers aren't along for the ride yet
EVs won over US early adopters, but mainstream buyers aren't along for the ride yet
Are EVs dying out? Not so fast. Experts say the future is still electric as car makers pour billions into new models: “After a record year in 2023, EV sales are expected to set another record in 2024.” @NPR @camilareads https://www.npr.org/2024/02/07/1227707306/ev-electric-vehicles-sales-2024
Most vehicles are not available as an EV yet. Want a minivan - VW says this summer you can get the first one. Want a truck - has to be the Ford F150 - which is in short supply and only available as a crew cab no long box. Want a car - limited choices and all luxury (except the leaf which is very limited range)
And of course most cars are old - most car buyers don't even have as many options as the above as EVs are not yet on the used market in as great numbers.
You can buy a PEHV minivan already from Chrysler.
The problem of luxury-only pervades the US car industry right now, and is not restricted to EVs.
Isn’t the Pasifica Plug in famously plagued by major reliability issues, and still has only a thirty mile electric range before you might as well have gone for the cheaper version. Given no small part of a minivan’s expected use if for medium to long road trips, as well as things like shuttling a bunch of kids around after school between houses where your probably not going to have much chance to charge, I wouldn’t exsacly call it a replacement for a proper EV. Better yet, we could even get more than one possible option of which car to buy, like if two or maybe even three different companies had competing products.
i have looked at it, one trim level which isn't the one I need. The pathetic range means I'e mostly be on gas even for trips around town.
The problem is EVs are not the answer we are all pretending they are. Moving away from the car model altogether is what we need. Offer tax credits to businesses that go full remote. Offer credits for people that get rid of their cars and/or move to a more densely populated area. This is not trickle down climate saving time. This is fucking Hail Mary, spend ourselves to the poorhouse to change things time.
The lack of competitive minivans, hatchbacks, coupes, long-bed trucks, and station wagons really hurts uptake. While crossovers are all the rage for the average consumer, EV adopters trend away from the average, and having a wide selection can make a huge difference when it comes to overcoming the price barrier or difference in capability.
Case in point, I've seen motorheads swear they'd never touch an EV with less than 500 miles of range, only to recant the moment they saw a Honda E.
I'd love an EV. Unfortunately I can't afford vehicles that aren't at least 20 years old. So it's going to be a while until I can get one.
Not just that, lots of Americans dont own a home with a garage.
What we need are swappable batteries. But those take up a lot of space, they can't be in giant underground tanks like gas.
Not really. We need mandated accessible charging infrastructure. All rental spaces should be required to provide access to at least one level 1 charging station per rental. Level 1 (regular wall outlet) is enough for just about everyone. You charge overnight and you never need to worry about stopping at some gas station or battery swap station or anything like that. If, for whatever reason, you need more than level 1 then hopefully there will be other options for you, but access to level 1 will solve most of the issues with EVs and rental property.
Here's a link to the NPR article linked in this post for the lazy
The thing that's keeping me from buying a new EV - apart from price - isn't the electric. It's everything else about the car. I don't like how they look, I don't like the giant touch screens, I don't like the gimmicky features that do nothing but add cost.
Then again, I found out today that I'm a "Harbinger of Failure" so maybe it's a good thing that I'm not buying an EV.
Don't forget that they're ruthlessly collecting and selling your data as well. They're worse than any other consumer product.
I definitely consider myself a conservationist, but I'll keep my '98 Grand Cherokee that costs $50 max to fix, thanks.
There's also an argument that it's "more green" to keep the car you have until it dies than buy a new electric car.
Edit: Removed misinformation, link to explanation below. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/corporations-greenhouse-gas/
I have a Subaru EV. It's Subaru with an electeic drivetrain. They didn't make it weird in any way really.
The only Subaru EV I can find is the Solterra, and it has all the same problems: I don't like the way it looks, I don't like the giant touch screen, and I don't want or need the driver assist features.
Can they just put an EV drivetrain into an 2003 WRX bugeye hatchback for me? And keep the stickshift.
They didn’t make it weird in any way really.
My dude, they were so dedicated to making it weird that they gave it no glove compartment.
I’d be down to get one if I could afford it. Also if I could charge it anywhere. As it currently stands I’m happy getting 35mpg in my little Ford Fiesta.
Imo, it’s because EVs are dumb, expensive, and so far inefficient due to how many batteries are needed for the cars vs how far they can go on a single charge.
Having less cars on the road in general would do more to cut carbon emissions - EVs should replace fossil-fueled cars, yes, but we should be advocating for more public transit and alternative forms of transit like walking and biking before looking towards replacing regular cars with EVs.
I get the appeal of saying something provocative like "EVs are dumb" (which could be initially interpreted as an advocacy for ICE cars), and then clarifying your position. Makes for an interesting comment.
However, it's a technically incorrect way to phrase it. Buses, for example, can be ICE or electric. It's not dumb to have public transit electric. You're (correctly) advocating for public transit over personal vehicles, but you shouldn't frame it as electric being a negative. In both personal and public transportation, electric tends to be far better. The only exception atm is for longer trips. Even then though, having a 20 minute break to charge every 300 miles isn't terrible for humans as we get to stretch our legs for a bit, and it's not so much longer than a 3 minute break every 400 miles.
Overall, no EVs are not dumb, they're the future of both personal and public transportation. We should lean towards public, but that public should be electric.
Listen, I am a huge urbanist, would love to see the US and the world transition to car-alternative transit modes. The reality is, cars are not disappearing. Even in the most transit friendly countries, cars still make up an enormous portion of the modes of travel. We need EVs as much as we need alternative modes to be feasible.
I'm gonna post this link to a former comment of mine, since this subject comes up a lot. Neither EVs nor public transit is a magic bullet.
The efficiency of public transit depends on ridership; nowhere in the world does it actually achieve 100% occupancy for more than a few minutes at a time, and nothing is more wasteful than a train running a circuit with only one passenger. At least by my calculations, it would take an average occupancy rate increase of 1.6x (for electric light rail) to 2.4x (for electric busses) over pre-pandemic levels for US public transit to reach parity with EVs, both in terms of electricity per passenger mile and tons of raw material per capita (such as steel, aluminum, copper, glass, and plastic). We'd need higher occupancy than the trains in Europe and the busses in Taiwan. Whether or not that's geographically possible in North America is an open question.
Ebikes are great, no question there, but thanks to parasitic drain in cheap chargers, they use 1/3rd the energy a typical EV does (kWh per passenger-mile, adjusted for occupancy but not speed), when they should use only 1/10th. That's a problem I expect to see solved in the next year or so, but it's a great reminder that nothing runs on magic.
As I say in the linked comment, public transit has critical advantages in the fields of urbanism and human-centric city design. I like trains and busses, and I vote for them every chance I get, it just bothers me when people conflate these advantages with environmental impact.
More work from home would help too
I'd get an electric car if I could charge it easily. Right now EV ownership is coupled to home ownership and mass adoption will never happen while this is the case.
If my apartment complex installed EV chargers in our parking lot, I'd be a lot more willing to get one. I ain't spending 8 hours a day twiddling my thumbs in a grocery store parking lot just to drive between work and home.
I ain’t spending 8 hours a day twiddling my thumbs in a grocery store parking lot just to drive between work and home.
What are you talking about? New electric vehicles today can fast charge to 80% in 20 minutes or less. For the amount of driving that most people do, that's more than enough. You'd likely be able to go a few days between charges, and you're probably going to the grocery store anyways in that time. This is a poor excuse not to get an electric vehicle.
Sadly it isn't that simple. Most grocery store or similar charging stations (at least around me) are level 1 or 2 (levels described in this article). That means you get roughly 2-4 miles per hour of charging or 12-32 miles per hour of charging (most being the lower).
While there is level 3 fast charging (what you refer to) , they are less common and that assumes your car is compatible (as like phones, not all support fast charging).
The fact all of this is generally unknown by the public is why buying an EV is so hard. You need to know what charging plug your car takes, what levels of charging it can use, as well as if the charges around you support your car at levels you want. It's why I went hybrid rather than phev/EV recently.