Absolutely Crazy! Spiking Gas Prices Have More Americans Considering (Drum Roll, Please) Gay, Woke Electric Vehicles!!

[hatrack]

EDIT

Several experts say high gasoline prices are a strong driver of EV sales, particularly if high prices persist. Drivers also consider more gasoline-efficient hybrid vehicles during these times.

Car-shopping resource Edmunds analyzed consumer shopping data for the week starting March 2, after the Iran war had begun. They found that interest in hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery EVs accounted for 22.4% of all vehicle research activity on their site that week, up from 20.7% the previous week. Analysts also looked back at the last major nationwide fuel price surges in 2022, and they saw that consideration of electrified vehicles consideration rose sharply then, too.

But whether this means more EV purchases depends on whether buyers expect to save not just now but in the future, experts say. Adding to the complexity: A sudden increase in EV demand could drive up prices, Graham said. “I think the real step change would be in whether this causes governments to shift tax, tariff policies around EVs,” Graham said. Doing so would help reduce fossil fuel dependence, he said.

Does driving electric really save money? Pretty much. People who buy EVs have a “really substantial” gas savings over the life of their vehicles even without government tax credits, said Peter Zalzal, an attorney with Environmental Defense Fund. “We’re talking about thousands and thousands of dollars” in savings, Zalzal said. “And as gas prices increase, those savings are only greater. Fuel costs are a big piece of overall vehicle costs, and increases in fuel prices have significant impacts on people.”

EDIT

https://apnews.com/article/climate-oil-prices-war-electricity-electric-vehicles-d6cfbd933bc55fc713f3cf732aa7ea34

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Unintended consequences, y'all . . . . .

[mwmisses4289]

3. How many people who want evs can't afford them?

I have wanted a hybrid since they first came out some 20 years ago, but the price has always been out of reach. The monthly payment alone would be almost half the monthly budget!

[hatrack]

5. OEMs really screwed the pooch on EVs, at least IMHO . . . .

https://www.shift2electric.com/evinfolist provides information on what's currently available in the US - range, battery capacity, and MSRP, among many categories.

And if you check the list, MSRP is what stands out. Car after car, SUV after SUV, truck after truck, nearly every model is aimed at the high end of the market - $55,000, $68,000, $92,000, $105,000 and even higher - to a degree verging on farce.

"Market share" - what dat??!!??

[mwmisses4289]

6. Yeah. A few years ago, when I took one of our cars

to the dealership to be repaired, I was talking to one of the guys at the repair desk, and he mentioned that he was buying a car and that his payment was $700 a month (and that was with the discounts he got for working there!). My jaw hit the floor. And the monthly payment is even more now!

Edited to add: in many areas, those prices are the down payment on a house!

[NNadir]

4. I wish that electric vehicles were "gay and woke" but in most of the US...

...electricity is carbon intensive. As I point out from time to time, on my grid, PJM, purely electric cars have a higher carbon intensity, if one includes embodied energy, than internal combustion engines.

This might be good for Musk, but not for the environment.

As far as carbon intensity goes, an electric car might be reasonably "green" in France, but not here.

There isn't enough slave mined cobalt on this planet to electrify all the world's cars in any case.