Opinion: EV Discourse Once Again Lacks Nuance

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

Electric vehicles have once again become a political football.

As someone who lived through the Chevrolet Volt discourse all those years ago, I’m getting a sense of déjà vu.

To recap: Soaring gas prices lead to a Twitter discourse about EVs that was just, well, terrible.

Some EV advocates seemed to suggest that a mass move to EVs would help alleviate our dependence on fossil fuels (and thus lead to reduced demand for gasoline, which would cause prices to drop). Meanwhile, anti-EV folks pointed out that EVs are too expensive for the average consumer to switch to. The number $60,000 seemed to be thrown around as an average base price for EVs. They also pointed out that even if EVs don’t have tailpipe emissions, there’s still an environmental cost in terms of their assembly.

Both sides of the discussion were right about some things and wrong about others, but as usual in today’s world, there’s no place for nuance.

EV advocates are almost certainly correct that a long-term switch to EVs will be friendlier to our environment while reducing the demand for fuel consumption – even accounting for the environmental costs of manufacturing vehicles. But the keywords here are “long term”: As The Verge points out, even if Americans rushed out to buy EVs right freakin’ now, that wouldn’t solve the short-term problem of high prices at the pump.

Not to mention that as The Verge also points out, the chip shortage and related (and unrelated) supply-chain problems are leading to low inventory, which means high prices. This means it’s going to be hard to find an EV (or any vehicle) right now, and even if you do, it might not be affordable.

All this said, those who were saying that EVs are too expensive for the average consumer are both correct and wrong. Yes, many EVs are expensive. Perhaps they are thinking of Teslas, which are well-known to the average person, and also, generally speaking, expensive.

Certainly, some of last week’s discourse may be a callback to November 2021, in which conservatives attacked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for being out of touch when he said this: “The people who stand to benefit most from owning an EV [electric vehicle] are often rural residents who have the most distances to drive, who burn the most gas, and underserved urban residents in areas where there are higher gas prices and lower income,” Buttigieg said. “They would gain the most by having that vehicle. These are the very residents who have not always been connected to electric vehicles that are viewed as kind of a luxury item.”

That linked NY Post article contains a link to car-shopping site Kelley Blue Book that shows the average sticker price of an EV at $55,676, as of October 2021. The Verge cites the price for EVs as over $60K as of February of this year, and also says the average transaction price of an EV is $10K over the industry average.

This partisan criticism of Buttigieg ignores the fact that while the average MSRP of EVs is indeed high, there are affordable electric vehicles out there*, and government incentives still exist. Then again, Buttigieg seems to forget that EV charging in rural areas is sparse, at best.

*Affordable in normal times, anyway. As noted above, the current low-inventory situation may be driving prices up.

Here’s the truth: EVs will likely help move us away from fossil fuels in the long run, but a run on the EV market isn’t going to drop fuel prices this week. And not all EVs are too expensive for the average car shopper. Some folks would benefit from EVs, and some of those same folks can afford one.

That said, affordability is only part of the equation. Take me, for example – I wouldn’t buy even the most affordable EV. Not because I don’t like EVs or am worried about range, but because the building I live in doesn’t have a Level II charger. It would be massively inconvenient for me to own an EV. Again, once chargers are more plentiful – and are actually working as intended – and charge times come down, more consumers might make the shift.

In other words, while price holds some potential EV buyers back, others are held back from making the switch for other reasons, and high gas prices won’t change that.

I get it, gas prices cause a lot of our brains to break, and it’s easy to fall into partisan wrangling on social media when prices at the pump are high. I paid $4.79 per gallon for regular to re-fill a test vehicle the other day, and driving around Chicago this weekend, I saw prices at some stations that were close to $5.20 per gallon for regular.

High gas prices are a problem for most of us, so we naturally look to place blame – and propose possible solutions. But when it comes to EV discourse, the truth is nuanced. EV advocates, especially liberal pundits and pols, need to understand that EVs aren’t going to be the short-term savior, even if they do promise benefits over the long haul.

Meanwhile, anti-EV folks and/or conservative pundits and politicians need to understand that not all EVs are out of the price range for the average car buyer, at least when inventory is available, and that EVs likely will be beneficial to society eventually.

Finally, both sides need to learn that ignoring inconvenient truths to score political points only serves to make our discourse less honest.

There’s a reasonable debate to be had about the cause(s) of – and solution(s) to – high fuel prices. Too bad too many high-profile people (and random social-media users) don’t seem interested in that discussion.

[Image: U.S. Dept. of Transportation]

Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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  • Tonyd Tonyd on Mar 15, 2022

    I have been driving a phev for 4 years. Frist a 2018 Prius Prime and now a 2021 ford escape phev. I do a 2500 mile round trip once a year. Averaged 90 mpg on the prius for 32,000 miles. Ford is at 67mpg for first 5300 miles, which includes 2500 hev miles. Prius Prime my net cost was 22,500. Ford escape my net cost was 25,000. If you want to be a positive force in gaining our independence from ff there are affordable options.

    • Kcflyer Kcflyer on Mar 15, 2022

      tonyd Great post. Could you elaborate? Specifically how much all electric range you see at various temps. Thanks Also curious why the switch from the Prius to the Ford?

  • Tonyd Tonyd on Mar 16, 2022

    Range for the escape is 37 epa. I see from 32 (temps in the 30's) to 44 (temps in the 70's). I have the base SE so no seat heaters. It does not have a heat pump so I put on gloves and a hat rather than use the heater when my wife is not in the car. I moved to the escape for more cargo capacity,easier entry/exit, and more electric range. The 25 miles on the prius did not get me home from work some times.

  • Mike Beranek Shouldn't be an issue, a typical 3BR house in Toronto costs like 3 million Chuckiebucks.
  • Bd2 Imagine if Hyundai were to develop this, and TTAC were being taxied around naked for their "Drive Notes"
  • Cprescott I have to laugh at speed limits. Apparently 95% of the people don't think it applies to them. Here in the states, there should be a fee paid at the time of registration renewal that will allow you to run 10 mph over the limit without a ticket (but you could be pulled over and have your belt checked, etc) Add $150 to the cost of registration and those who feel like they want to go commando, have the cost of speeding 10 over the limit to be no less than $500.
  • 3-On-The-Tree I do 80 on I-10 and cars are always passing me pulling away doing well over 100.
  • Fed65767768 So Quebec...the only Canadian province still stuck at 100 km/h. Then again, considering how bad the roads are in this poorly run province, I'm not sure many drivers would be willing to drive much faster.
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