With so many brands jumping on the electric vehicle band wagon and more and more models out there to select from, you would probably be of the opinion that sales of these emission-free vehicles would be steadily rising.
But, apparently, the opposite is happening – sales are dropping.
Regulators want zero-emission vehicles and carmakers have been scrambling to build them.
Ford says a third of its vehicles will be electric by 2030 while Volkswagen aims to sell a million EVs annually by 2022.
However, in the US, 325,000 EVs and plug-in hybrids were sold in 2019. Compared to the previous year of sales of 349,000 this marks a drop of 6.8 per cent, according to a report in The Los Angeles Times.
There could be several factors for this decline in sales — notably, and traditionally the biggest culprit ù range anxiety.
This still remains a serious cause for concern among consumers who appear to still not have complete faith in EVs or the infrastructure to recharge them.
What’s more, EVs are still more expensive to buy than combustion-engine vehicles and many are hesitant to part with large sums of money for one, in spite of government subsidies.
And since fuel prices are still relatively low and stable, many are not bothered with switching to an EV.
Last but not least is Tesla; when you think of an EV you automatically think of Elon Musk’s brand — and this is detrimental to all of the other carmakers out there who also have an EV in their lineup.
Sales of the Model 3 increased by 14 per cent in 2019 in the US, and more than doubled globally to 300,600.
But Jaguar which offers the I-Pace just sold only 2,594 units in the US last year, while Audi shifted 5,369 e-trons.
The more affordable alternatives from Hyundai and Kia are struggling, too. The Kona and Niro found 3,600 and less than 1,000 homes respectively…
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