Popular Mechanics: Does Anyone Even Want an Electric Car?

[Ogre]

We are the minority of car buyers.

-Crissa

If you’d done this survey 5 years ago, it would have been 2% of people. 5 years ago it would have been 1% 15 years ago when Tesla started up, it was 0% because Tesla did not exist.

As the prices drop and availability of EVs increases, the number of people willing to cross the line increases.

Prices will continue to drop. Buyers will continue to change over.

Static numbers are pointless.

 

[Bob Anderson]

Sidenote: My mother just bought a new vehicle after getting fed up with maintenance issues on her current ICE. Before she went to the ICE dealership to trade in and buy a new one, I begged her to just test drive a Model Y. She refused to do it. No interest in even trying it out!

Isn't that crazy?

I remember when the first iPhone came out I thought it was a stupid idea. Who in their right mind would spend $500 for a phone? How on earth would you look at the internet or maps on such a small screen? No one is going to want to look at their phone when they could use a computer instead. As it turned out my cousin bought one and let me play w/ it. I then understood why there was all the hype.

I know a ton of people who have been in EVs and are ready to purchase as soon as prices come down. And just like my first experience w/ the iPhone, many won't get it until they've actually driven one. Luckily that will happen naturally and will require no advertisements. Those who get one are so excited to show it off it will be self fulfilling.

 

[Friday]

The way I "sold' the CT to my Mom is: "You will never have to visit gas stations again. You will never have to schedule an oil change where they try to rip you off selling you new filters and upcharge crap again. You will leave the house everytime with a full charge in your vehicle if you plug it in at night. You are safer due to these options, along with the safest car manufacturer in the world."

My Mom in also somewhat disabled and needs assistance at gas stations to pump, so she can only go to certain ones that have the capacity to do that, mostly Costco.

Safety and ease of upkeep can really be a selling point for people that are unaware (because of habit) of the things they have to do with ICE and don't realize what they won't have to do with BEV.

 

[Newton]

A friend of mine, whos in his 50's, drove my Leaf for the 1st time recently. I told him to floor it at at least once.
after he came back he was excited to talk about it.

i said "thats the cheapest most bottom end EV you can get, imagine a Tesla"

last time i talked to him about tesla (stock related) he said he might get 1 when he wants a new car.

I think a lot of people's fear, no not fear, uh hesitance for ev's is simple not knowing enough about them.

 

[Ogre]

Since we’re talking about intentions and fabricated statistics, here’s another one.

Elon Musk added 20 million Twitter followers in the past 9 months. A 40% increase.

I guess they are all excited about SpaceX and really bad 69 and 420 jokes?

Is Musk the next avatar? Buddha, Mohamed, Jesus, Joseph Smith… now Musk?

 

[kev12345]

this is based on no study whatsoever but just personal experience.

boomers have the money to go electric but are much more hesitant to change. millennials would prefer to go electric but they can't afford it. gen x is all in.

 

[Cybertruckee]

For the information revolution in our midst, Americans are still too lazy or too dumb to look and see the calculations of the comparative cost of ownership.


And the fact that EV ownership is also politicized.

 

[TomGriff]

The reality is that price is a barrier for most people. While new EVs are comparable to some segments of ICE vehicles, there are currently no cheap three row vehicles or cheap mid/large family cars out there. There are good values on used small/compact hatchbacks (Bolt and Leaf) with decent range and Model Ss can be found at a good price in the large luxury sedan segment, but I think that it is about it. There maybe some other small, short range cars out there for a good price, but they aren't a good option for families that only have one car although probably a good option for families with two cars. For a whole lot of people, a new car isn't an option so until the used EV market starts dropping in price most people are not yet in a position to buy an EV.

Ultimately, even at the current prices the demand for EVs is well ahead of the supply of EVs as demonstrated by wait times for most models.