Claims that electric vehicles don’t have enough demand may be overblown.
A new study from GBK Collective, published Thursday, found that half of the more than 2,000 US car consumers they interviewed were considering either an electric or a hybrid car for their next vehicle purchase.
This far outweighs the current ownership trends found in the study. Only 14% of those surveyed already own a plug-in or hybrid vehicle of some kind. It’s another piece of evidence of a huge opportunity for EV manufacturers to home in on the needs of these green car-curious consumers.
“These are not the same kind of customers who created the initial EV market,” GBK President Jeremy Korst told Business Insider in an interview.
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“These are later adopters, and because of that, they’re not as driven by innovation or even design,” Korst said. “They have more functional needs, and they’re much more pragmatic and thinking about the total cost of ownership both in price and in effort, like, ‘how do I charge so what’s that going to take? How much time is it going to take me?’”
I’d like one not connected to a hateful, megalomaniacal egobeast.
Plenty of options besides Tesla.
When the roadster came out I wanted one, but I wanted to see how the brand fared in general for a few years first. Plus I couldn’t really afford to upgrade my 1995 volvo.
When the model S was released I wanted one. It seemed practical, but it still wasn’t affordable for me to replace my old 1995 volvo.
When 3 was released I didn’t really care, because it seemed like a downgraded S.
When X (the car) was released I wanted one because m It seemed to be exactly what I needed.
But then:
Stories with quality control issues with Tesla becme more and more frequent.
EM proved himself to be a complete asshat (I had my suspicions, so I wasn’t that surprised when he went mask off)
Autopilot turned out to be a scam
Relying on rental cars at work made me realize how much I hate touch screens.So, I’m still driving my 1995 volvo 940. It will be replaced in march by a 2019 volvo xc90. I see the benefit in hybrid, but fuck tesla.
It will be replaced in march by a 2019 volvo xc90.
But why, tho?
Because I have four kids, so I need that big of a car to fit the entire household. If it wasn’t for that I would probably drive my jurassic era car for another decade.
I have seriously considered an EV and will probably get one in the next few years but my biggest problem with them is that all of them have huge fucking tablet screens. I want a EV that has physical buttons and if you are going to use digital screens, I want it in the same layout as the traditional style. IF I have to have a tablet screen, I want it to be minimal.
I don’t want to have to use a menu to turn on the fucking windshield wipers!
Volvo XC40 Recharge has buttons for most things (volume, wipers, defrost, …) though climate is on the touchscreen which is annoying. Navigation on the touchscreen is nice. The software is a bit glitchy, though the car itself is very nice.
But I strongly agree: searching for buttons was a big part of our car search.
I would definitely consider a Volvo but it is on the more expensive end and isn’t eligible for the EV rebate in the USA. Still, it is one of the better looking EVs
Agreed completely. We love our Bolt because it’s a regular car interior with an EV engine
I have an EV, it has physical controls on stalks in the same place as a regular car for the indicators, windscreen wipers, lights, etc. You only need to use the tablet for climate controls and nav/music - all of which can be voice activated.
which EV do you have? The wiper example is just the Tesla, and I wouldn’t buy that anyways. I’d consider it if they ousted Musk
Polestar 2
That is one of the best looking, from the outside. I haven’t had the chance to see inside for myself.
Tesla you press the button on the left stalk to make wipers move once, which also brings up the wiper menu on the screen to keep them on. I want more physical buttons too but it’s not terrible this way.
How about this: one press, one swipe, tap a few times and it continues relative to the rate you tap it. Perfect, no stupid tablet menu necessary.
My first-gen Chevy Volt has all the buttons. And I mean ALL the buttons. I’d say it has too many buttons, but it’s a particular quirkiness that I kind of like; the future as imagined in the '90s. Very Star Trek TNG shuttle craft aesthetic.
I’ll happily drive an ev if
- it is affordable
- it doesn’t require an online account and app to work correctly
- it isn’t an enormous truck/SUV
- it isn’t fucking hideous
- I don’t have to support Elon Musk
Too bad nobody’s making one of those.
- replacing a faulty battery wont be nearly the price of an entirely new vehicle
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If the charging infrastructure is as universal and as reliable as gas stations, so whenever the landlords want to make sure all the parking stalls have at least Level 1 charging
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What about better public transport, I’m ready to stop putting money into an “asset” that depreciates at $300 per month, while the debt jacks up interest fuck me the depreciation on a car makes the interest look like a reasonable tip to your server
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And yeah, twice, the batteries should be swappable, they can be semi-permanent but assume a 2-year replacement time with a standardized installation, fuck paying $45,000 for a really fast cellphone that stops working when the battery does and replacing the battery means ripping the glue apart and the car is never right again. They have to be AT LEAST as swappable as engines.
Well we have Nio and CATL ramping battery swap, but wouldn’t you know it… They are under tariffs… Oops
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Kia niro ev. You can get a 2019 model for ~25k, and it just looks like a normal hatchback.
Kia is also doing paywall subscription stuff. I hate this time line.
I have the nitro ev. Can definitely recommend but it’s going to be annoying when every charger only supports NACS standard in a few years though
Still too big and bulky. I want a roadster EV; something no bigger than a Miata or 350Z.
Anything larger than a midsized car sucks in the handling department, and I hate that my country has such a hard on for them.
All I want is a sporty convertable EV that looks attractive and has 350+ HP for under $30K.
Oh and find some excuse to put a manual transmission on it – or at least flappy paddles – without it being a gimmick (edit: like CVTs with their fake manual mode; fuck that noise). Then I’m sold.
There’s no such thing as a manual transmission with an EV though…? The purpose of a transmission is to make best use of the power band of a combustion engine, an issue that EVs don’t suffer as they are able to provide maximum torque at zero RPM. At the end of the day, all you’re ever gonna get is some gimmicky fake manual mode.
Fine I can do without shifting. (TBH I don’t miss it that much anyway in EVs since the instant torque makes up for it.) Just give me my pocket-sized roadster EV, please.
Fair enough! But yeah, definitely let me know when there’s an EV that meets your other criteria, I’ll be right there in line with you to get one, haha
Honestly, I would kill for an EV. I’m ready to setup the charging station already since I have a 240v 50a run in my garage. I even do electrical work and could install it myself.
As the article notes though, it’s way too expensive for me to consider at the moment. I drive maybe 100 miles a week but it’s usually a lot less so I would be a perfect candidate.
However, a $7k or less older ICE vehicle does what I need. I can buy a fuck-ton of gas for $43k… Including the added maintenance. I’m also hesitant to buy an older EV due to battery deterioration and not knowing if I will have to pay a ton to replace the batteries.
I had a 2014 Nissan Leaf. I bought it used in 2016 for $11k. I replaced the tires once. And filled the window cleaner fluid a few times. That’s about it. I charged it off a 110v in my garage. I debated getting the quicker charger installed, but seriously never even once would it have made a difference. My driving was about 300 miles a week. One of the few really solid purchases in my life that I have no regrets about.
Yeah I was similar with a used bolt for 14k. There are some deals if you are patient and look around.
I has an almost identical story, except the battery went from having mild degradation to suddenly erroring out the vehicle an putting it in turtle mode. (I believe we had 11/14 bars left.). Ended up spending almost $10k on a new battery. Honestly, it still has been a good deal for us over the course of the last 8 years, but not as great as we hoped. At least we have a new battery that should last a long time.
Honestly, I would kill for an EV
Why because it’s the new shiny? I bet you buy the new iPhone every year.
However, a $7k or less older ICE vehicle does what I need.
Right but you gotta have the new shiny right?
FOMO?
I don’t have a car now but if I were to buy one I would give serious thought to an EV. The biggest problem I would face is that I live on the third floor of a brownstone in DC. I have a parking space but no way to plug it in at night.
You can charge off a normal wall outlet too, but those can also be hard to come by depending on your parking situation.
There are schemes in the works to put standardized public outlets on streetlamp posts and utility poles. That will be nice when that’s working.
And if you have a dedicated parking spot it’s not a big stretch to install an outlet for it.
Some neighbors even have installed one on a post in front of their house while they park on the street.
There will come a time when having a parking space without a charger will be unthinkable, and it’s coming soon in my view.
Based on what? There has been no plan proposed by anyone to even start doing that. It’s not economical for commercial players to add that level of infrastructure.
Having an EV be an option is very much a privilege of having a secure SFDH.
Not true. There are schemes in the works to put standardized public outlets on streetlamp posts and utility poles.
Then BYO charging cord and plug in.
When EVs and plug in hybrids are a significant enough portion of the road fleet, people will not want to rent a park without one, and building owners will be forced to either install them, or have their parking building sit empty.
That’s great, but I’m talking about people making car buying decisions today.
Cheaper and not a Tesla.
And not Chinese chabuduo malware.
Order your QVKZFAST REAL ELECTRIC BATTERY CAR STREET HIGHWAY ROAD LONGRANGE CHARGE CHARGEABLE COMFORT today!
Citroën Ë-C3?
The tech is still a bit immature. The price is still way too high. The grid is still so dirty (in my area) that only the small EVs offer much of carbon output reduction over the compact ICE that I drive now. The user experience of a bunch of touchscreens is horseshit and I will not buy anything without buttons.
All those things change in time and I will almost certainly buy an EV when they do. Mostly I am annoyed that the US EV fleet is being reduced to fuck off huge 7k lb monster trucks.
Theres also the fact that they’re all cloud connected now.
I was very eager to buy a non-Tesla EV but now they’re all following the same playbook.
Hate to tell you this but quite a few new cars are too, electric or not.
Ugh yeah, thankfully I got a very old, decent condition SUV before COVID that I can to ride into the ground.
I bought a crv hybrid. I also work from home and don’t really drive much anyway.
Pretty sure the upcharge wisconsin charges to register a hybrid cost me more than the gas I’ve put in it per year.
It makes no sense to target hybrid cars unless you’re also targeting other efficient ICE vehicles. My state used to seperate hybrid from plug in hybrid, but the culture war BS changed that.
A registration upcharge for a hybrid? What kind of nonsense is that? I got federal and provincial rebates for my plug-in hybrid.
Rebate scope was heavily reduced in the past month and suddenly there’s stories about EV and PHEV demand being lower? Horse shit. They’re just more expensive now.
“Bad press”? If they mean Teslas, sure; they’re garbage. But I just want an EV that’s affordable.
I think they mean Republican media.
Hybrids are the clear choice. The new Prius prime is so nice. And of course the rav4 prime is awesome too.
Can recommend the Prime. Used to get free charging at work which doubled my fuel economy. Even without plugging it in, it has been a great car.
The primes are enticing, but not 20k more expensive enticing. The escape PHEV is near perfect (same beautiful transmission as Toyota) but is FWD only. You need to go up to the lincoln corsair grand touring to get AWD and then suddenly it’s 50k. wtf? Why will no one sell a sub 50k AWD PHEV?
Mitsubishi Outlander
Dealerships also have a party to play in tanking overall sales of EVs with the direction Tesla took and for is trying to take, cutting out dealerships all together.
Fuck, I’d love to make my next car hybrid or electric, but I sure as fuck can’t afford one, even used currently.
Tax breaks don’t do shit for someone on disability, so I’m fucked in that regard.
I thought I heard they were changing them to be more like rebates? If not, yeah that’s really silly.
2024 they changed the $7500 to a rebate, but there are only a few models that qualify
Yep, was just shopping this week and it’s damn near impossible to get a new EV with range worth looking at and under 30k
I just need 200 please, it gets cold here and losing 30% of 200 makes this tenuous. Think I’ll have to either get another hybrid for my wife as they return to work soon or wait for better tech
The Bolt has 250 but FU Chevy for discontinuing it. You can get them used, though.
Yea I looked at one of the ‘23 units but it wasn’t a good price. They said the line supposedly being refurbed and a revamped Bolt will be released in ‘25
I found the manufacturer buy back ones usually had better prices. When all the bolts got their batteries replaced, sometimes Chevy needed to buy them back. I found those were usually a bit cheaper.
It’s the same here in Brazil, people are interested but the cheapest EV is still very expensive and is just an electric version of a shitty car called Kwid that is now WAY overpriced thanks to it being an EV.
