According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, Americans simply aren’t responding to electric vehicles the way experts had hoped. Even with huge government incentives, they aren’t being drawn in as easily as experts had expected.
“As a result, electric cars and trucks are piling up on dealer lots, causing auto companies to reassess their investment plans. It takes a dealership around three weeks longer to sell an EV than a gasoline vehicle, according to data from the car-shopping website Edmunds. A year ago, battery-powered models were selling faster than their gasoline counterparts.”
The major reasons for them collecting dust are simple; the cost is too high, and they don’t trust the technology. When the average new EV will run a consumer $52,000, a gas-powered equivalent is only $45,000, it simply makes sense to go with the gas vehicle. As multiple reports have shown, the technology isn’t consistent. This makes people apprehensive to risk their safety and transportation reliability for a few tax credits.
Another major problem is the location of their sales. From July-September, over 25% of EV sales came from California. In total, four of the top ten EV use rates are in CA metro areas. For these drivers, they aren’t taking ownership of new EVs either. A lack of “upgrade” options, need to upgrade, or even money to buy another one.
Just adding insult to injury is the billions Biden dedicated to a program for putting EV chargers in across the US. This program has managed to burn through billions of dollars but not install a single charger. While contracts have been given out and ideas identified, nothing is being run. Funny how that works, eh?
