Poll: Two-thirds of Americans unwilling to pay premium for electric vehicles

i can agree with you to a certain point. i would agree that people need to be educated about emissions and foreign oil. what i cannot agree with is the need part. If we just did what we needed to do, life would become very boring very fast. Sometimes you do things because you want to. i drive a built-up jeep wrangler rubicon when i'm not driving a prius. it's freakin' fun! there's nothing quite like climbing rocks and driving through creeks. i've driven trucks and suvs all my life and i can tell you it's really nice being in a big vehicle.

i think you have to balance personal freedom and personal responsibility. we should be concerned about using foreign oil, but we also should be free to drive what we want. everyone will make choices.

 

Lip service.

 

I doubt that anyone is arguing against the fact that we are held to the wheel by a global oil cartel...or central banking cartel for that matter. What I am pointing out is that a sizable number of Americans-- two-thirds being a conservative estimate IMO-- are essentially insolvent when their assets and obligations are weighed against one another. And for those people, $20k or more is simply too much for a vehicle. I would like to think that this is something of a good thing since MAYBE people will quit spending small fortunes on cars in lieu of savings, retirement, etc..

 

The recent Nielsen poll's relevance turns on whether it was taken at a GM factory as workers were leaving work ... or taken outside the Leaf battery factory ... or some other skewed location(s). Since Nielson was unwilling to mention the demographics ... well ... that says volumes in itself.


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IMO,
I think the Leaf will be a better buy, and here's why:
One. It's Cheaper. $32,000 base, -$7,500 tax deduction, and if you live in a state that gives you credit for driving an electric car, or hybrid, -$5,000. So all in all, if you can get all the deductions, the Leaf will be about $20,000-$25,000. Which is a lot better than the Volt's $40,000 price tag.

Two. The Leaf is practical. 5 door hatchback. Seating for 5, compared to the Volt's seating for 4.

Three. The Leaf has a 100 mile range, while the Volt is more less a Hybrid, so you can go on long distance travels, but the Leaf will have the fast charge station that will charge it from 0-80% in 26 minutes which isn't bad. I could go out and eat or do something while it's charging.

All in all, I think the Leaf will be more popular. It's in reach of more pocketbooks.

 

I am not in the market for any new car ... my G3 will hopefully be alone in my stable a very long time. But after reading many, many post on the pros and cons of the Volt and the leaf, my early choice (to be ammended with test drives and actually experiencing the vehicles) would be the Leaf. The range is certainly appealing; 5 seats; and Nisson's reputation. The more I read about the Volt's mechanical setup, the less it appeals to me. Plus, limited range; only 4 seats, and GM's reputation.

In my mind, "foreign oil" concerns and the environment are only two components of the selection process, although important. Reliability, convenience, appearance, comfort, safety, and peace of mind (not worrying about my next "electric" fix), are also high on my priority list. At this point in my life, I am very happy that the G3 complements all the aspects that are important to me.

 

Maybe, but the reason they are insolvent is that they buy expensive vehicles.

The average cost of a new car in the US is around $29k.

Median is more relevant, and most cars are sold used, so a better figure is:

STUDY: Average car costs 22.1 weeks of median family income, average price at $26,300 — Autoblog

, so we have $26k cars bought by $62k median income families. To my standards that is far too much money. But people love their new cars even if their kids have no 529 and their 401k wouldn't last them 6 months.

 

On the surface at does appear to be too much money But times have changed. Maintenance are used car is much more expensive Much more complex and that all means that ya, people do spend more on cars because of previous poor experiences with used cars.

Add to that a used car market that is not all that attractive. The monthly payment difference between a late model used car with its associated higher interest rate is not low enough to justify the risk to many people

 

Isn't that the truth.

There is definitely an issue with the price of used cars as well, but whether it is new or used, a > $20K car is well out of a lot of people's price range. If the price a person is willing to pay for a car is about the monthly payment, then there is the first clue that there is a problem with perspective. We used to be taught that the accumulative total of the car payment, insurance, maintenance and fuel should not exceed 1/4 of your monthly take-home pay, to NEVER finance for longer than 3 or 4 years and to keep the car until its wheels fall off or the yearly cost of repairs exceeds what the payments on a new car would be. My....how things have changed. And here we have people unwilling to pay a perceived 'premium' for EVs. A coincidence or a manufactured crisis of idiocy?

 

well we have on the one hand an older used car which can run in the say $5-10,000 range. financing will be difficult and the rates will be high. any car cheaper than that, you pretty much have to have cash. looks like you will pay nearly 10% on one of those.

or you could go for a newer used car but most will run you 13,000 and up (browsed the used Prius ads since there is no other car worth buying right now) a lightly used one will run you 17-18,000 and financing is around 5.99%

add to all that above, the fact that DIY'ers are simply far and few between. being mechanical helps, but we also need an AA in computer tech just to read the manual. (exaggerated to make a point) a repair job that is not covered (some used cars do carry a bit of a waranty but that is from a dealership that will charge you extra anyway so the best you can hope to do is break even on them) could cost you thousands and you either have to have cash or put it on your 14% credit card or take the bus.

or you could get a new car. the economy is tough right now, money is tight and lease terms are simply too good to be true right now. but people want to be comfortable. its easy to see a $500 payment in your budget on the 5th of every month than it is wonder what you would do if you suddenly were stuck with a $2500 repair bill in the middle of the 680 freeway at 7:30 am on a monday morning.

financiers take advantage of our

1)fear of the unknown
2) inability to predict realiability on an unknown quantity (used car)
3) our ability to rationalize that extra $350 a month charge to lease despite the fact that we have not demostrated the ability to save that much money every month... but better than buying at $500 a month right??

 

Is maintenance more expensive? I bet as a whole it's markedly lower. I am sure people are put off by old cars, though. A person who's bought a new car will want to sell it "before things start going wrong", which superficially makes sense but break down the numbers and it holds no water.

My other vehicle has 95k on it and I've done almost nothing in repairs. Struts, a couple pairs of breaks, spark plugs and basically that's it. The Prius replaced a car with 134k and the biggest repair was ignition coils for $350 (I did the labor to save a couple hundred). this over its entire lifespan. A good brand car should be able to hit 100k now with a reasonable expectation of little if anything going wrong to that point and that's head over heels better than a few decades ago.

Safety equipment raises prices but previous nice to haves like AC, automatic, cruise are almost impossible to NOT get in a new car.

The finances can be strange. A great buy is a $5-10k car bought with cash. But most people who are able to pay cash probably want to buy something nicer. It also takes a small leap of faith to pay or commit to payments on, say, $10k of car with ZERO warranty at all. So in a sense it's almost best to just get something for $2k and junk it if the tranny dies. If the tranny on the $12k SUV you just bought with 70k goes, though, you're on the hook for $3500 like it or not.

I have bought cars 1-3 years old with lots of factory warranty left and still much cheaper than new and they've worked out well. I also paid $2300 for a car with 141k on it once and sold it 40k later, its biggest repair being a thermostat (plus some brakes but those are wear items). 40k of driving and $1200 lost in depreciation. A new car eating through 40k miles could lose 10X that or more.

Lease deals are why this is the first new car I've bought and for the reasons you mention. I do all my own repairs but it can be a PITA stuck in the garage out of the blue working on something to get it going and $231/month to drive a gas-sipper 18k/year with no chance of having to pay for repairs, it just made sense.