A poll is only a poll, and numbers on buying intentions can move around from month to month, but J.D. Power has some interesting data out on the demand for electric vehicles (EVs):
It’s not all sunshine smooth sailing on the road to the EV future. While the long-term trend in EV market share has grown significantly from 2.6% of all new-vehicle sales in February 2020 to 8.5% in February 2023, sales hit a speed bump in March, with monthly market share falling to 7.3%. Although some month-to-month volatility is to be expected, a closer look at the barriers to EV adoption shows that many new vehicle shoppers are becoming more adamant about their decision to not consider an EV for their next purchase.
According to new data . . . this steady increase in the percentage of consumers who say they are “very unlikely” to consider an EV for their next vehicle purchase reflects persistent concerns about charging infrastructure and vehicle pricing . . .
As of this month’s [May’s] report, 21% of new-vehicle shoppers say they are “very unlikely” to consider an EV, up from 18.9% in February and 17.8% in January. Meanwhile, the percentage of auto shoppers who say they are “very likely” to consider an EV is 26.9% and has been largely flat for the past three months.
There are no great surprises what’s driving this reluctance to buy:
Lack of public charging infrastructure and price have been the top two concerns for the past 10 months, along with related issues involving range anxiety, time required to charge and power outage and grid concerns.
And even the younger generation has, it seems, its doubts:
Demographics are also playing a role in these results. While it may not be surprising that the majority of Boomers and Pre-Boomers aren’t considering EVs, fully one-third (33%) of Gen Z shoppers—the future of the marketplace—say they’re “somewhat unlikely” or “very unlikely.” It is clear in the data that price and charging infrastructure are significant obstacles for a wide spectrum of potential customers.
With so many consumers not as excited as they should be about the wonders of EVs, it’s not too hard to understand why the Biden administration and regulators in various states are trying to stop consumers buying the type of new cars they, you know, actually want.
Just like the dawn of the auto age. Except not.
Speaking of that dawn, in his Substack (where I first saw the reference to those new J.D. Power numbers), Robert Bryce has these data:
In March, Ford Motor Company announced that it lost $2.1 billion on its EV business last year. Those losses were double the losses it had on EVs in 2021. As I noted in a video I posted on TikTok on March 23, Ford made 61,575 EVs in 2022. Thus, the company lost about $34,000 on every EV it sold last year. I also noted that the costs of making EVs aren’t falling. Last year, the cost of battery packs for EVs went up by 7% . . .
it appears Ford’s 2022 losses were only a warm-up lap. Yesterday afternoon, Ford reported a $722 million loss on its EV business over the first three months of 2023. During that span, Ford sold 10,866 EVs, meaning it lost $66,446 on every EV it sold.
There are many reasons (most of them dictated by government) why the U.S. auto sector is rallying behind the EV sector, but one of them is that, given the billions carmakers are pouring into the sector, it just has to work.
Because if it does not . . .