Cars: A moment of truth for electric vehicles
Have we reached the tipping point for mass electric-vehicle adoption in the U.S.? asked Tom Randall in Bloomberg. Over the past six months, EVs have represented 5 percent of new car sales, up from about 2.5 percent a year ago. It may not sound like much, but analysts consider that figure to be an important threshold. With past innovations from electricity to televisions to smartphones, 5 percent has been the milestone at which “technological preferences rapidly flip” and early adopters are swiftly “overtaken by mainstream demand.” Some analysts think we’re already there. Worldwide, “the share of fully electric vehicles passed the 5 percent threshold last year,” and sales are expected to break records this year with oil prices so high. If the U.S. follows the trend established by 18 countries that hit the mark before it, “a quarter of newcar sales could be electric by the end of 2025.”
Drivers are signaling their growing comfort with an electrified future, said Pras Subramanian in Yahoo News. The latest consumer survey by AAA found that “25 percent of Americans say they would likely buy an EV for their next car purchase,” mainly because they want to “save money on fuel costs.” However, several factors are still holding down adoption figures today, including the price tag. The average price of an EV in
June was $66,000, although some eligible tax credits may bring that down.
Good luck getting your hands on one anyway, said Sabrina Shankman in The Boston Globe, because “manufacturing isn’t meeting the moment.” The frustrating hunt for plug-ins has become “akin to buying a house,” with long wait lists for new models. Automakers are trying so hard to keep up with demand that they may be taking dangerous shortcuts, said Anjani Trivedi in Bloomberg. Toyota recalled 2,700 of its newly released electric vehicles “because there was a risk their wheels would fall off.” General Motors had to recall all 142,000 of its electric Bolts over a spontaneously combustible battery. “These are serious and, most worryingly, basic problems” from well-established companies.
If EVs are going to make up a quarter of U.S. sales soon, we’ll need a lot more chargers, said Andrew Moseman in MIT Technology Review. Nationwide, there are about 48,000 charging stations, but only 6,000 of them are the fast kind that can rapidly juice up a car. Private companies are focused on the most profitable high-traffic corridors, and fast chargers are “nearly nonexistent in rural America.” Finding ways to fix the nation’s “charging dead zones” will be largely up to the government.