this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2024
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Electric Vehicles

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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.

"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?'"

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[–] [email protected] 78 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I'd like one not connected to a hateful, megalomaniacal egobeast.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Plenty of options besides Tesla.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago (12 children)

And China's about to hit the market hard. You know, if you don't mind them scraping your data.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

If the 25% tariff on Chinese EVs went away, they would flood the American market just like Honda and Toyota in the 80s. We need a cheap sedan EV, and nobody is filling that segment in the US.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Everytime ev's come up everyone's a fur trapper in the himalayas that needs to make pilgrimage over 500 miles every other day.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago (6 children)

It's not that you need 500km every day, it's that you need 500km often enough to make the average affordable ev with a 150km range impractical. Until there is a reliable charging infrastructure in place, people need a vehicle that can accommodate their longest trip, not their average trip.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago

150km is the unreasonable part. The AVERAGE affordable EV, especially not Tesla, will easily do 250-300km on a charge. My ID.3 does 340km on a full charge (100% to ~10%) and I’m spending a third on “fuel” per month vs the Fiesta, even though I can’t charge at home.

Btw, I also don’t think twice about driving from Amsterdam to Disneyland Paris 2-3 times a year - that’s 550km each way easily. 2-3 charges, every 2-ish hours, depending on the season and Paris traffic.

People are just afraid to change. Right now, some cars get excellent deals to get sold. Once everyone starts wanting these, kiss those deals g’bye.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago

Exactly why I have a PHEV. Battery for daily driving, gas for longer trips.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago

Ehh more like a 90km daily commute (+10km wiggle room for errands). However, the 150km advertised range turns into 120km actual range, which in turn gets reduced by 30% in the winter. Suddenly, a new EV (which I can't afford btw) has a range of less than what I need, meanwhile, old ones which I might afford (and are still waay more expensive than a used ICE) have nowhere near that amount of range.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago

If you think that's bad, check out discussions about bicycling.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 9 months ago (10 children)

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!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

Agreed completely. We love our Bolt because it's a regular car interior with an EV engine

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (6 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (2 children)
  • replacing a faulty battery wont be nearly the price of an entirely new vehicle
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Kia niro ev. You can get a 2019 model for ~25k, and it just looks like a normal hatchback.

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 9 months ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 9 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

Yeah I was similar with a used bolt for 14k. There are some deals if you are patient and look around.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Bad press or just right-wingers crying because of their vroom vroom vehicles?

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 9 months ago (7 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 9 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (2 children)

And not Chinese chabuduo malware.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Hate to tell you this but quite a few new cars are too, electric or not.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago

It's hard to spend 50k on a new car when my current car is functional.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago (9 children)

Hybrids are the clear choice. The new Prius prime is so nice. And of course the rav4 prime is awesome too.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

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.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

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.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

"Bad press"? If they mean Teslas, sure; they're garbage. But I just want an EV that's affordable.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (3 children)

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

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