QOTD: Are You Still Willing to Buy an EV?

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

American car buyers are less willing to buy an EV than they were last year.

Are you?


Some of you were probably never willing to buy an EV, and might never be. But I bet some of you were willing to buy an EV last year. So, are you less willing now? More? The same?

Have you soured on EVs because of issues finding a charger, or price, or some other reason?

Or are you still willing to at least consider owning one?

You know what to do. Sound off below.

[Image: General Motors/Chevrolet]

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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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6 of 102 comments
  • Ste65797138 Ste65797138 on Sep 11, 2024
    It would be ALMOST worthless because no one will want a used car that has half the range and takes much longer to charge. I'm glad an EV suits you perfectly. I would love to go electric. In my situation, living in a condo with no charging, in a city that can go down to -40 and charging miles away it doesn't suit me at all. Your 300 mile range would drop to half of that in the winter conditions I live in.
  • Luke42 Luke42 on Sep 11, 2024
    I own an EV, and the experience has soured me on ICE vehicles forever. My next vehicle doesn’t need to be a Tesla, but it will be an EV if I have any say in the matter whatsoever.
    • See 3 previous
    • Ajla Ajla on Sep 11, 2024
      I still work on and have owned and have a desire/willingness to own certain vehicles that use a carburetor even though EFI is an obviously better technology in nearly any circumstance. EVs do have plenty of pleasant things about them but I can't imagine ever losing a personal affinity for ICE vehicles, even if a future market reality makes it a hobby situation.
  • EBFlex Garbage but for less!
  • FreedMike I actually had a deal in place for a PHEV - a Mazda CX-90 - but it turned out to be too big to fit comfortably in my garage, thus making too difficult to charge, so I passed. But from that, I learned the Truth About PHEVs - they're a VERY niche product, and probably always be, because their use case is rather nebulous. Yes, you can run on EV power for 25-30 miles, plug it in at home on a slow charger, and the next day, you're ready to go again. Great in theory, but in practice, a) you still need a home charger, b) you paid a LOT more for the car than you would have for a standard hybrid, and c) you discover the nasty secret of PHEVs, which is that when they're on battery power, they're absolute pigs to drive. Meanwhile, to maintain its' piglike battery-only performance, it still needs to be charged, so you're running into all the (overstated) challenges that BEV owners have, with none of the performance that BEV owners like. To quote King George in "Hamilton": " Awesome. Wow." In the Mazda's case, the PHEV tech was used as a performance enhancer - which worked VERY nicely - but it's the only performance-oriented PHEV out there that doesn't have a Mercedes-level pricetag. So who's the ideal owner here? Far as I can tell, it's someone who doesn't mind doing his 25 mile daily commute in a car that's slow as f*ck, but also wants to take the car on long road trips that would be inconvenient in a BEV. Meanwhile, the MPG Uber Alles buyers are VERY cost conscious - thus the MPG Uber Alles thing - and won't be enthusiastic about spending thousands more to get similar mileage to a standard hybrid. That's why the Volt failed. The tech is great for a narrow slice of buyers, but I think the real star of the PHEV revival show is the same tax credits that many BEVs get.
  • RHD The speed limit was raised from 62.1 MPH to 68.3 MPH. It's a slight difference which will, more than anything, lower the fines for the guy caught going 140 KPH.
  • Msquare The argument for unlimited autobahns has historically been that lane discipline is a life-or-death thing instead of a suggestion. That and marketing cars designed for autobahn speeds gives German automakers an advantage even in places where you can't hope to reach such speeds. Not just because of enforcement, but because of road conditions. An old Honda commercial voiced by Burgess Meredith had an Accord going 110 mph. Burgess said, "At 110 miles per hour, we have found the Accord to be quiet and comfortable. At half that speed, you may find it to be twice as quiet and comfortable." That has sold Mercedes, BMW's and even Volkswagens for decades. The Green Party has been pushing for decades for a 100 km/h blanket limit for environmental reasons, with zero success.
  • Varezhka The upcoming mild-hybrid version (aka 500 Ibrida) can't come soon enough. Since the new 500e is based on the old Alfa Mito and Opel Adam platform (now renamed STLA City) you'd have thought they've developed the gas version together.
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