Why Americans aren’t buying more EVs

boem@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 99 points –
Why Americans aren’t buying more EVs
arstechnica.com
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It definitely has nothing to do with the outrageous starting price range.

Yup, American manufacturers are still treating EVs as if they're this exotic new toy for upper-middle class people or silicon valley douche bros, rather than getting onboard with the concept of them just being a utilitarian thing that needs to be marketed to normal people.

Give me the EV equivalent of the Geo Metro and I'll buy it in a heart beat. I'm not taking out a second mortgage for a car that tries to drive itself and whatever dumb gimmicks they come up with, but I will 100% buy an affordable, practical EV designed with efficiency and economy in mind.

2026 Bolt could change that. Hopefully the ultium system is fixed up by then. Also base model Volvo EX30s are going to come from Belgium to maintain their mid 30's price point.

What we really need is the government to make a grant or low interest loan available to anyone with a parking lot and an electrical hookup to put in fast chargers. Everything from libraries to gas stations.

It is not a defense of the manufacturers, but EVs are still damn expensive to make. And they are completely at fault for that too, because everyone except Tesla dragged their feet about making the EV transition.

Right, and worse. After years of dragging their feet, broadcasting FUD to discourage potential customers, they try to all release premium priced cars at once to now uncertain customers. And priced well above their initial announcements. Of course their naive predictions of ridiculous growth didn’t pan out. They’re not just guilty of dragging their feet, but screwing up when they finally tried it.

And what the heck is wrong with GM? The second biggest American seller of EVs, and they drop what has been working, to make the same mistake as everyone else. And wtf were they thinking about piling on with dropping CarPlay and claiming they can do better: wtf, we e seen what you can do, that’s why everyone wants CarPlay. Oh, and I’m sure all this talk about subscriptions is really going to bring in the buyers

I'm with you. I ended up just buying a used gas vehicle because the others are just too expensive.