No, I don’t think so. The costs seem too high.
Well, wages are supposedly up so I’m not sure why they wouldn’t be able to continue to afford them. They have been some of the most popular vehicles. Cost hasn’t affected that and with wages being higher I don’t see it being a factor now.
Like the article says, the problem is the cost of the batteries for EVs. Hell, the $50,000 battery alone is about $15,000 more than my last full size truck purchase a few years ago. I can comfortably carry six in my truck for a range of almost 600 miles without refueling. I can tow well over 10,000 pounds and carry over a ton of material in it’s bed. Perhaps they should focus more on other platforms. Seems like that would make the most sense.
Ford doesn’t make a single car in the US market.
GM Delays EV Projects in Latest Industry Pullback
Strong demand and prices on gas-powered trucks and SUVs prompt carmaker to raise profit outlook
Tesla’s Profit Fell 45% in the Second Quarter on Weak E.V. Sales
The company led by Elon Musk is selling fewer electric cars, and its big bets on driverless taxis and artificial intelligence could take many years to pay off.
Yup, no question all EV sales are flat. (And this is with all the federal/state incentives.)
GM is slowing its EV production. Ford’s EV division is losing megabucks.
btw: Tesla still had a net profit of $1.5b.
People are so irrational. The economics of driving an EV are compelling except in areas with very high electricity costs.
I can drive as fast as I want for much less than gas in pretty much any ICE car, or I can baby it and go 50 miles on $1 of power.
Then I see people going out on a date in a $90,000 F-350’s and it just drives me crazy.
I can’t blame the automakers for building what people want, but sometimes Americans are just plain stupid. [/rant]
3 Likes
Areas with high electric costs (generally) also have high gas costs.
This isn’t correct. YOY EV sales growth remains positive, 11% in Q2. EV market share continues to increase every quarter and is now at 8%.
Tesla sales have slumped, yes, but Tesla now represents less than half the EV market. Non Tesla EV YOY sales growth is at 33% so far this year.
Meanwhile, overall auto sales growth in the first half of the year was less than 3%.
IOW, EV sales are growing at a far faster rate than ICE sales.
https://insideevs.com/news/726327/ev-sales-brands-non-tesla/
3 Likes
Thinking of taking our EV on an upcoming trip to DC to visit our son. It can easily make it there on a single charge. But I’ll want to charge it once there to get around and then for the return.
I tried calling the hotel we typically stay at in Adams Morgan, then tried several other hotels we have used and none have chargers in their parking or any useful suggestions for EV charging. Tried looking on PlugShare but it kind of looks like an EV charging desert once you exclude locations at private residences or businesses, and even after that most locations seem to be slow and not have more than 1-2 chargers which means the odds of getting them are low. Very, very few DC charger with multiple stations.
So is DC just a charging dessert or does anyone have any suggestion sin the NW quadrant?
Worst case we’ll just take our other car and always expected to mostly use it for road trips. But the EV is so nice to drive and since it can make the 210 mile trip non-stop would be easy to use, but for the concern about us wasting time seeking chargers once there.
1 Like
Lack of working charging stations is probably why more people aren’t buying EVs.
2 Likes
EV Go has 3 locations on their map, but not many total chargers. guess I’m not surprised as most urban centers want to discourage cars coming into town in the first place.
The other option is to top off in the nearby 'burbs on the way into town.
The Walmart and nearby Safeway on the way in from the North seem like the best bet for that. Wish there was something more convenient.
I’ve owned an EV 7 months now and have done one trip where I needed public chargers. (And it worked out fine on that trip – got the car from 20 to 80% in 15 minutes in a Walmart parking lot on route each way.) The stats are most people charge at their residents the vast majority of the time. So perception and reality may be out of alignment. And charging at home is amazing. So convenient and I am averaging less than 1/6th the cost I incur from my comparable class gas SUV for the same mileage. That said, if I could only one 1 car in our household I wouldn’t t do a full BEV yet. But since we have more than one, I would rather have the best driving experience vehicle we have ever owned that is perfectly fine for 95% of our drives and know we have another option for the very occasional longer trip if I can’t get comfortable with the charging for that trip.
6 Likes
Exactly, but you are contempating taking your EV to DC. Most people wouldn’t risk traveling on one to crowded urban areas.
Electrify America 6 stall station on M street in Georgetown (parking garage).
2 Likes
I have to be honest, that article doesn’t make me feel much better. I have driven the routes they took dozens of times. Wandering off the highway to hope for an open AND working charger in some random parking lot doesn’t sound fun.
My soccer son just made the trip from the Boston area to the author’s home area(Shenandoah Valley) with 1 stop, in 9 hours. That’s an extra 130+ miles, and he used I-78 through PA, where the author admits charging would be difficult.
Having to default to I-95 for charging is enough to keep me from road tripping with an EV.
1 Like
What does soccer have to do with it?
3 Likes