Pricey vehicles get a lot of press, but the fact is they are a tiny fraction of total vehicle sales. Those are the number one and two segments in the automotive world. Buyers want huge trucks and compact crossovers. Cars are declining rapidly in popularity. One reason electric cars may not be selling is that they are, well cars. So is the EV range problem really the issue? Yet, its sales are well below its peak when early adopters bought theirs. Heck, using its range extender it can travel a whopping 420 miles in a straight line. Had the EV champions been right, the Chevy Volt, with its 53 mile EV-only range would have been the breakthrough we all needed. However, this ignores the fact that millions of Americans live in apartments where charging is not an option, and the fact that almost all vehicle owners use their rides for a radius of more than 20 miles pretty much constantly. They invented that idea by averaging the commute distance most of us take and then point out we should be charging at home each night. A pretty substantial faction of EV fans consider oil the devil’s work and think cars like the Plug-in Prius, Ford Fusion Energi, and Volt are no better for America than an F-150.ĮVangelists have been telling us since the start of modern EVs that all we really needed was a 40-mile range. At about $70K in their most basic form, they are well outside the average cost of a new car, never mind the low $20K cost that the largest selling compacts like the Corolla, Civic, and Sentra sell for.Īnother drawback for some EV buyers is the gasoline range extender. With the Tesla Models S and X, price is a big issue. Other EV makers have offered longer-range EVs for years. That range is well above the 200 miles that GM promised and will make the Chevy Bolt the first affordable battery electric vehicle to surpass the 200-mile range goal that Tesla Motors and other EV makers have set as the end-all of range anxiety. The news this week is that Chevy’s new 2017 Bolt has earned a 238-mile range estimate from the EPA. Chevy has taken a big lead over Tesla Motors in the 200-mile, affordable battery electric (BEV) race.
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