The dirty secret of EVs is that most of them, especially by “Early Adopters” are bought by affluent families who own multiple vehicles.
The miles driven on these things tends to be very low. They are a wokeness display device so, of course, you are going to drive your EV to the Sierra Club board meeting, or the Planned Parenthood fundraiser, or the meet and greet with your local Democrat Congressman.
But these are affluent families with large detached houses, and multi-vehicle garages, so there is a G Wagon or Range Rover as well as an S class parked in the garage, out of sight when not in use.
“Buyer’s Remorse: Why Are 20% Of Early EV Adopters Now Defecting to Internal Combustion?”
Easy answer: Because they have already SENT THEIR MESSAGE, which is that THEY CARE and YOU DO NOT CARE.
Now that the purpose of their EV purchase has been achieved, it’s time to move back to something practical.
Only 20%?
I don’t drive an electric car, and have not owned one. But I have some experience with an electric bike, already having put approximately 1,500 miles on mine. Based on that, my suspicion is, that once people start driving Electric Vehicles, they realize the inescapable reality:
You must think about your battery level all the time.
If you don’t start thinking of it immediately, once you make a mistake and run your battery down, you sure think about it constantly after that. Every time you turn it on.
For commuters who drive 30-40 miles a day, and the EV is the second car in the family, I believe it is a do-able thing. But pretty much everyone else must work things out in advance.
You must think about your battery level all the time.
And it isn’t an easy calculation. You have to do worst-case calculation, and even then, you might not be able to make a reasonable estimate. Very few people can mentally calculate load, temperature, terrain or any host of other factors. Sure, the cars provide estimates of current range when you turn the vehicle on. But as soon as you put the car into drive and step on the accelerator, all those things change. Your 68 miles of projected remaining range when you turn it on goes down to something less like 50 miles immediately. Why? Could be any number of things.
You cannot forget about it.
You cannot ignore it.
You cannot procrastinate on it.
You cannot fail to plan for it.
If one does any of these things, you are going to end up stranded somewhere, likely with a tow charge involved.
And even if you do plan for it, it is full of uncertainty. And delay.
If you travel, you have to know where all the charging stations might be along any route you take. But you have little idea of the status of those stations. You might consult some website or map that says there is a charger at a given place.
You might show up, and the charge site is nonfunctional due to vandalism, poor maintenance, or some mishap.
Or, you get there, and there is a car parked there, charging. You have no idea where the driver might be, when they are coming back, or if they are coming back. They might be parked there overnight, for all you know.
And this discounts completely the time it takes to charge a car. Sure, the top level ones like Tesla, if you use their special setup, can charge your car in 15-30 min. Otherwise, if you run out and some kind soul lets you use an outlet on their house...it is going to take a while.
And the thing is-it is my opinion that many people are simply not suited to this type of management. Some are, but many are not. And it diminishes the enjoyment.
ICE vehicles are not absent of this, as anyone who has ever lived through a gas shortage knows. But in those situations, you can get a gas can and some gas, and drive another 30 miles, hoping to find another gasoline source.
Because the Second Law of Thermodynamics reigns supreme.
So if 20% of EV owners go back to ICE vehicles, that means 80% keep their EVs. It sounds to me like a lot more stay EV than go back.
Child labor in mines is probably not one of the reasons.
No one hates planet earth more than an electric vehicle owner.
Actually, they are good except the problem of charging. I can charge from 10-80% in 18 minutes at a fast charger. Whereas Tesla has chargers all over the place for other EVs, not so much. It is really frustrating to pull into a charging station when you are on the road only to find half the chargers are out of order and the others are in use. At home it is great charging overnight. My worry is where the electricity is going to come from in the near future.
Toyota is developing a solid-state battery that could achieve an impressive 745 miles on a single charge, without any driving restrictions.
Solid-state batteries have higher energy density and can be smaller and lighter than other types of batteries, potentially halving the size of EV batteries.
Supposed to be ready by 2025.
Because EVs suck and are inferior technologically! They are a fad at best.
Aww. I was gonna say “they suck” and save a word.
The first EV vs Steam vs ICE auto propulsion war was fought over 100 years ago and ICE won. ICE won then for the same reason ICE is winning the current redux ICE vs EV war.
Gee... why didn't they tell us that? /s
I can’t imagine who would buy a used EV. If the main component fails (the battery), you’re looking at a huge bill — a bill so big you’re better off scrapping the thing and buying a used ICE car.