What's holding back electric car sales?

...but it's large gov't incentives making it work, and State of California mandating that autos must sell EV's. As the Toyota ex-manager said in another thread, autos are forced to take a loss on EV (or pick your poison...autos can alternativelty take a loss on H2 FCV if that's their preference).

 

Stop painting with so wide a brush guys.
The Model S has over 25% margin.
The Model S is inline with the cost of other large luxury sedans. The other EVs are not that far behind.
All the EVs have superior driving characteristics to ICE vehicles making them attractive to a greater fraction of the market.

 

I agree...sort of. The driving factor should be pollution reduction as previously mentioned. To many it is much more preferable (based on history) to set technology independent regulations that address eliminating all pollution end products from all sources. The early CARB mandates and renewable energy percentages very much were a step in this correct direction. Unfortunately it is degenerated into a pick and choose technology selection looking more like crony capitalism than environmental stewardship.

As such, the crony capitalism EV favoritism helps EVs, but a true pollution elimination approach would have a very high likelihood of helping EV sales via different mechanisms, possibly even more than what we have now. I think history has shown (e.g. EV1 story) that no efforts to eliminate pollution sink EVs.

 

I don't think range has anything to do with it. The big problem is the fear of the battery, that's the first question I ever get asked, "Isn't the battery like $10,000?', never "How far can it go?".

 

This might have already been mentioned but the biggest shortcoming is recharge time and range.

I can hop in any of my cars at a moment's whim and drive as far as I want (as long as a gas station is available and open for business). Can't do this in a BEV, not yet and maybe not ever.

 

Well, Congress decided to make EV's and renewables a major focus of the omnibus economic recovery package for the Great Recession. To me the reason is similar to ethanol- when the gov't mandates a certain market option (eg; 10% ethanol) it creates many many jobs. We can argue the eco-merits until the cows come home, but JOBS is the true thing.

 

Wow, I never realized how much I was roughing it in my 2004 fully optioned-up Prius Liftback that only had 4-way manual seats -- front to back and seat back angle. It was a novelty when I got my Volt that I could now also raise and lower the front seats.

I rarely have others driving my car so I'm not sure I would care much about automatic seats that can be personalized for multiple drivers etc.

What exactly is a 10-way seat? I can think of lumbar support. I suppose you could adjust the entire seat angle. Does it give you a "magic fingers" massage if you drop a quarter into a coin box? For a passenger seat you could also have a lounge chair style leg support flip up, I guess.

I'm fine with a manual 6-way for another 20 years at which point I'm going to want one of those seats that rotates out to the side.

 

While I think you make a good point for people just afraid to try new technology, have you priced a transmission lately? Example: A $7,000 tranny hurts just as bad as a $7,000 battery pack. Being a Mechanic I tend to maintain and repair my vehicles much better and longer, but most these days just get a new vehicle when repair costs become to high. Right or wrong from a financial point, people seem more comfortable trading in for a new car payment and reliable transportation that dishing out cash for major repair costs...regardless what breaks. I still think the restriction of freedom is the problem.

 

Could it just be the unknown? And maybe not just the first owner but prospective second and third hand owners too? Who wants an old EV with a worn out battery? Where do you take it when it goes wrong? And how much does it cost etc? It's similar to the Prius now. Because they're still quite rare here any diagnostic or problem has to be taken to the expensive main dealer. That's fine in the first few years under warranty but not when the car is 5, 7, 9 or 15 years old. A 5, 10 or 15 year old petrol/diesel car can be taken to any back street garage and be fixed on the cheap. A hybrid less so and a BEV not so.

I wonder how many potential BEV owners are put off buying new because they worry about selling/trading in or costs outside of warranty? Maybe Nissan or BEV manufacturers should give a 10 year warranty to instill some faith in their product? The Leaf here gets a 60,000 mile warranty or 5 years. That's not enough and will scare future owners and affect depreciation.

 

all good points. i'm sure a hundred years ago, many people were reluctant to give up their horse.

 

But looking at the barn floor changed their mind.

 

Looks like the KIA Soul EV is coming to Texas next month. Although still an expensive compliance vehicle, at least the rest of us have one more choice to pick from. Perhaps another reason people shy away from affordable EVs is that, aside from the Leaf and I-MiEV, most are only available to the CARB states.

 

I owned a VW TDI with a DSG trans, trust me, I know.

 

$7k is cheap. One of my last used cars had a $16-26k new or rebuilt engine replacement option...and then you paid for labor at $160 an hour to do the swap. Junk yard motors of uncertain history were more like $5k. Compared to that, rebuilding a battery is pretty affordable.

People who buy 100k+ miles cars on the cheap and expect the reliability/cost of new cars with warranties are fooling themselves. Parts wear out on any car.

 

Most electrics just don't have enough range for me to use for my typical driving. Most of my driving involves a round trip of 55 or more miles over mountainous terrain. Visiting family is a 140+ mile trip. A Tesla would fit the bill, but one of those won't happen until I have a place with off-street parking!


Not a Dalek

 

Sorry, double posted with wonky Wifi.

 

For ease of charging, inductance charging would make charging more appealing to the masses. I know, first hand plug in / unplug my golf cart gets old fast.

DBCassidy

 

It is quite reasonable to anticipate sales boost as a result. We've seen conveniences push technologies into the mainstream, garnering acceptance on a large & rapid scale.

 

Ha...Son still drives my 2006 NB PD-TDI DSG. That mistake has cost me dearly, but at least I have all the tools now....

 

Grumpy Cabbie's post made me think about the huge influence that used cars have in A). enlarging the whole consumption market, and B). popularizing new technologies. How many of us got started on beater cars as teenagers / young adults? I wager most of us. Perhaps true large-scale adoption of EVs must wait until a large and feasible used EV market emerges... ...if one emerges at all. We don't know yet, because we don't know what a used 10-year old EV would look & feel like to an 18-year old.