The data found about 68 per cent of car shoppers in 2022 who did not own an EV showed an intent to purchase one, but that dropped to 56 per cent this year.
They. Are. Too. Expensive.
Yeah well I don’t want a big ass SUV that costs a whole arm.
I want a reasonably priced Honda E. A Fiat electric. A VW e-Golf.
But most of all, I want better public transportation.
I had a Fiat 124 Spider a couple years ago that I absolutely loved. Bring that mother fucker back as electric and I’m buying day one.
The first 124s are so good looking.
I mean, I do want a somewhat decent sized EV but not one that costs an arm. I mostly want a couple hundred kms of range without it costing an arm. I go on 200-300km trips almost on a weekly basis in the summer.
Also I’m still not sure how they think people will charge their vehicles if they live in apartments and townhomes or basement suites where they park on the street overnight.
Where I live there are many public charging stations. But probably not enough to match the demand if everybody switched to electric cars overnight.
There are new types of solid state batteries coming soon that will allow super fast charging within a few minutes and extended range beyond what current batteries can do. Let’s hope it arrives soon.
probably not enough to match the demand if everybody switched to electric cars overnight.
The same way that McDonalds wouldn’t be able to cope if the Public suddenly discovered Mig Mac Sauce can prevent cancer?
It’s okay to plan capacity a little less aggressively and then come up with demand, and not coping with a bizarre surge is almost okay.
The faster the charger, the more powerful of a charging station you need, and the more expensive they are. No matter how fast your car is capable of charging, it’ll be limited by the charging station so the speed itself won’t change.
On the other hand, solid state batteries are supposed to have quite the increase in charge density so there’s the hope that they can be a lot cheaper since you don’t need as big of a battery.
On the other other hand, isn’t the car market slowing down as a whole? Sales seems to have slowed dramatically these last few years as people are relying on other ways to get around more and more, so rather than replacing cars with EVs, it’s more like cars are just plain disappearing, even it’s only at the rate of partial replacement levels.
Yeah people can’t afford them anymore. They gotta pick between a home or a car.
Because they cost an arm and a dick. I can’t afford a $40k car even if it’s cheaper per km to operate.
Fuck me, I can’t even afford 10k. Regardless of cost per km
You could rewrite this as “Canadians crunched by inflation, corporate profiteering, are unwilling to spend money on top-trim, high-margin electric vehicles that manufacturers want to them buy instead of cheaper cars that they can afford”.
It is true, though:
- More people rent, and so can’t charge at home
- Interest rates have made monthly car payments out of range
- People are squeezed everywhere else
- Automakers (and frankly, the rest of the supply side) got addicted to debt-fueled spending and are absolutely unwilling to go back to an era of lowered expectations. I mean, we all have to do with less, but we can’t expect our Captains of Industry to share the pain.
The Tesla brand has become distasteful due to the owner’s antics, and no other carmaker builds an EV that’s capable of long range travel due to a lack of quick charge capability and infrastructure.
edit: “the owners” meaning the person who owns the company, ie Elon, not the people who bought the cars. Apostrophe added for clarity.
Well, that, and Musk’s been torpedoing his own reputation by opening that mouth of his more and more these last few years. Tesla owners always though he was one of them, but he’s been proving them wrong more and more every time he opens that mouth of his, so it’s no surprise that people who are pro-EVs are seriously thinking about ditching Teslas.
Yeah, that’s what I meant.
I will never own a gas car again because gas cars are simply inferior technology. I’ve put 170,000km on my EV over the last 5 years, and they’ve been more convenient and less expensive kms than even the cheapest gas cars I’ve owned. The only maintenance has been rotating the tires and the cabinet air filter.
When I wake up in the morning, the car has more mileage charged in it than I’ll use in the day, which includes my 100km+ round trip commute. When I drive it, the instant torque blows by most other vehicles on the road. I live in a rural area, it snows, it freezes, it doesn’t get plowed right away, the car doesnt care. It always starts. I make half a dozen 1000km round trips a year in it, doesn’t matter the weather, sunny or cold. I take 2 kids, my wife and all our gear in it. Did I mention they do sports, we have equipment and bikes and all that stuff.
The darn thing does everything the skeptics say it won’t do and it’s a shame all the misinformation I see, almost daily, about EVs.
What vehicle and can I afford it?
I am with you! I first dipped my toe into the EV pool in 2020 when gas was at a modern era low, so EVs weren’t exactly flying off dealer lots. I only drove my ICE to keep the gas from going bad. Ended up selling the ICE and buying a second EV with a bigger battery and longer range. I’ve taken it on four road trips since March, and people don’t know what to think when I tell them I pay less for a full charge than most people do a single gallon of gas.
I think the best way to shift the apprehension is that home charging is the future, and you really only need to worry about infrastructure when you are going out of town. It’s a lot easier to put chargers on lampposts than it is to put gas stations every few miles, but oil lobbyists are making sure everyone is absolutely terrified of electrification.
Totally. The inconvenience ( and inconvenient timing ) of having to fuel up is intolerable after being exposed to electric.
My wife drives an EV and I drive a gas guzzler. So jealous. It is going to change the second I can afford it.
I’ll buy an EV when I can get one with all the tech that’s in the car already working without a monthly subscription cost.
Sales doesn’t equal interest.
I’m very interested. But, our country isn’t interested in making life affordable.
Maybe people don’t want to drive a vehicle that spies on them? All EVs are privacy invading.
Get out of your bubble a bit and you’ll realize that basically no one in the real world cares about that
basically no one in the real world cares about that
I’m going to assume that ignorance is your idea of “not caring”. I think people would care if they knew the truth.
Put it this way, if you offered informed people an EV that spies on them or an EV that doesn’t, would anyone pick the one that spies on them?
With the price difference it would make? I’m sure most people would go for the cheaper, spying option.
As long as they are informed, they’re more than welcome to choose that option. As it stands, there are no options for privacy-respecting EVs.
It still doesn’t mean it’s one of the main reasons why sales are down, which is what you implied at first. Proof of that? Gas cars have the same kind of tech, people still buy them.
It will doesn’t mean it’s one of the main reasons why sales are down, which is what you implied at first.
Of course, I don’t think it has a major effect on sales in the grand scheme of things. Speaking of only my own reasons, I personally wouldn’t buy a car that spies on me if I had other choices. That takes all electric cars off the table.
Gas cars have the same kind of tech, people still buy them.
I do agree that modern gas cars also have spyware in them (it’s a fact), but ALL EVs have them.
At least with gas cars, you can still buy one old enough to be free of spyware.
Eventually, all cars will have spyware, but forcing people to buy them out of necessity isn’t the same as them choosing to buy it because they want to.
I don’t care either way. Car manufacturers have made it easy for me to pick cycling as my main form of transportation. LOL
People don’t care about it until they get bitten. Then they act all outraged and make outrageous demands for compensation.
That’s a bit of a non-issue when smartphone penetration is as high as it is.
I’m waiting for my ICE car to die. And I’m waiting for those new batteries that handle the cold better.
Preferably a non-tesla. Tesla would have a NAZI in the mouth
Same. I have an 08 sedan with 220K km. I’m not going to pay for a new car so long as my old car is still working reasonably reliably. It’s at the point that I won’t pay for a big repair, so it’s just a matter of time.
That said, if electric cars aren’t available to buy reasonably quickly, then I might not have much of a choice. I’m lucky that I don’t need to drive much for work, but I do need to often enough to need a car.
And fuck Tesla. I’ve heard way too many horror stories about their lack of quality control that I’ll never even look at buying one
It wouldn’t surprise me if the biggest factor was just interest rates.
EVs still do tend to cost more than ICE vehicles, and the used market is still pretty new for EVs.
Autotrader is mostly a used car marketplace. So it doesn’t really surprise me that after a year where used cars cost more than news ones, and new cars were flipped for immediat profit.
Now that is starting to settle down and people who still can afford a new car just gets it right from a dealership.
Availability is some of the issue as well. I was able to snag an Ioniq 5 in May because another guy’s credit was rejected and I had called at the right time to add myself to the list for the new trim level.
I’ve been on the list at every dealer in SK for over a year and I’ve been called only twice, with both vehicles being the matte black. I don’t know why they even send matte painted cars here, they’re dirty the moment they’re exposed to air.
Meanwhile, there are many Ioniq 5s collecting dust in dealer lots in the US.
I’ve experienced a similar decline in interest. Mostly because of one key thing, I got an e-bike.
The cost of gas was way too expensive, and I considered selling my gas powered car and buying an EV but the used and new market is well above anything I can afford, they only seem to produce SUVs or crossovers instead of anything the size of a Honda civic. I figured I’d just keep the gas car I have until it beefs it and use it for multi person trips, or far away trips.
Like it really is hard to beat when I can spend 1500-3000 on a bike that costs pocket change to charge, and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to maintain. Honestly with the lack of public transit in a lot of Canada, a bike and whatever car you already have is a great way to save on gas money.
instead of anything the size of a Honda civic
Chevy Bolt. But they’re over $50k CAD before rebates. Fuck that.
God if the Chevy Bolt was like idk even 35k I could maybe justify it but ideally I think we need the Hyundai Elantra of EVs to exist…something in and around the 20k mark for them to be a purchase normal people can make without sticker shock
Even the used ones are still pricey. I’d get a 10 year old Tesla Model S for $25k before I’d spend $35k on a used Bolt.
I got an e-bike this past year and its been fantastic. Folds up and I keep it in a corner when I’m not using it. It’s been great for getting around town
Which bike?
Envo Lynx 20, not the best bike in the world but it was $1200 from Costco and it does the job for me. Moat folding ebikes are really expensive and so dang heavy its nearly impractical. The Envo is relatively lightweight so it’s not cumbersome
