The target set by President Obama back in 2008 to get 1 million plug-in electric vehicles on the road by 2015 has not been reached, not even nearly so. His administration backed up billions of dollars in EV subsidies for both consumers and the automotive industry. Despite all those efforts, statistics show that only about 400,000 electric vehicles have been sold since then, amounting to less than half of the target.
Failing to reach the target 1 million electric cars can be partly attributed to the falling gas prices. It should be considered that in 2008, when the President was setting the target, gas prices were averaging almost $4 a gallon. Fast forward to 2016, and gas prices have tremendously dropped to nearly $2 a gallon.Ford CEO Mark Fields pointed out last week that electric cars “are a tough sell at $2 a gallon.” In fact, last year, sales of electric vehicles fell by six percent from the previous year to about 115,000 units sold.This was despite the industry offering 30 plug-in electric models on top of generous discounts. The results show that the market just isn’t ready to switch.
In addition to the falling gas prices, the technology behind electric cars is not advanced to a level that will warrant mass adoption. First off, electric cars are more expensive than their gas-driven counterparts, and if that was not enough, they have shorter driving ranges before needing to be recharged. Another limitation is that the charging stations are few and far between. You would not want to be stuck on the road because you can’t find a charging station for your electric vehicle. This is not to say that the technology is not improving, as we are starting to see cars that can travel hundreds of miles on a single charge, like Chevrolet’s upcoming 200-mile Bolt EV, which can be bought for about $30,000. The Tesla Model 3 also promises similar specs with more or less the same price range.
“If gasoline was $8 a gallon, consumers would amortize the costs of an electric vehicle pretty quickly, but at $1.50 a gallon, who is going to be willing to pay an $8,000 or $10,000 premium?” said former GM Vice Chairman BobLutz, who led the development of the Chevy Volt.
Green car advocates have insisted electric vehicles are a crucial part of reducing the ever-growing greenhouse gas emissions, and at the same time help lessen the country’s over-dependence on oil. They argue that eventually, gas prices will begin to rise, making electric vehicles the viable option.
The push and development of plug-in electric vehicles will continue (albeit not as fast as it should) despite the obvious reasons for its abandonment. One major reason is that many states, led by California, have imposed zero-emission vehicle mandates.California has set an ambitious goal to have a 1.5 million EVs on its roads by 2025. Government incentives are also pushing the continued development of electric vehicles, with the U.S. Energy Department awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in low-cost loans to spur EV manufacturing by companies such as Tesla and Nissan. Lastly, many car manufacturers worry that consumers will perceive them as backwards if they abandon development of electric vehicles.
The president’s target may have been too optimistic for the time frame, but with car manufacturers slowly beginning to embrace the idea and develop better technology, the future for EVs is not as dim as it may seem at the moment, despite the hitches here and there.
Be the first to comment on "Electric car sales fall short of targets"