You may not want to buy a new electric car, but when it comes to buying a used automobile…
America’s isolation is leaving it in a backwater. Especially when it comes to electric cars. If there were no tariffs on Chinese EVs, they’d wipe out the American manufacturers overnight, they’d dominate sales in the U.S. They’re that advanced, they’re that good, and they’re not that expensive.
But as a result of our present Administration, the focus is now on coal and traditional fossil fuels. And this has become a tribal issue. Elon Musk may make electric cars, but really, they’re for the coastal elites who believe climate change is real.
But your beliefs are no challenge to your pocketbook.
Used EVs are a stealth incursion into the market; they’re how electric cars are going to come to dominate the U.S. fleet. While GM and Ford are icing their EV investments/production, and as conventional wisdom leads people to choose hybrids, the supposed best of both worlds, everybody is ignoring the obvious…
EVs REQUIRE ALMOST NO MAINTENANCE!
If you follow the news, used EVs are selling prodigiously, at prices below those of equivalently aged used gasoline vehicles.
Now, in the past, you didn’t want to buy a used EV; the technology was moving too fast. Which is why those with bucks lease their electric cars…I mean what are the innovations right around the corner, how long are the companies going to support the software?
But we’ve hit maturity in batteries. In excess of 300 miles per charge is de rigueur, never mind the Chinese offering more for less with a new technology.
Now, as a result of this belief in innovation, a zillion cars are coming into the market after the expiration of three-year leases. And they’ve become too attractive to pass up. That’s how cheap they are. And people who would never have considered an electric car are purchasing them. And once they drive them and don’t encounter the endless repairs of a typical used car…
Word of mouth will spread, and everybody will want a used electric vehicle.
Buying a used vehicle, which is where all the action is, because the average price of a new one is over 40k, is a crapshoot. It’s just a matter of when they’re going to need maintenance. Some expected, some not.
There’s the new timing chain somewhere between sixty and a hundred thousand miles. And that’s not cheap, but you can foresee that.
But the other items…
Every car I’ve taken over 100,000 miles has needed a new radiator.
I mean, every car needs new brakes at some point, but a new fuel pump? New injectors? You’re buying a time bomb when you purchase a used car, what if this was not the case?
That’s the story with eclectic cars. The batteries are good for 300,000 miles or more. You’re not going to have any engine repairs; there are almost no moving parts.
As for a hybrid… It’s really the worst of both worlds. You think you’re winning, but the bottom line is your machine still has a gasoline engine, which needs traditional maintenance and is subject to breakdown. WHO WOULD WANT THAT?
A lot of ignorant buyers.
This is like digital photography. We heard it was coming for the better part of ten years. But it never did. Kodak continued to flourish. But seemingly overnight, digital photography took hold. Same is going to happen with electric cars.
So someone complains to you about the repairs to their car, but you’re going to tell them you have no problems, because you drive an electric car.
All the focus has been on NEW electric automobiles, whereas the penetration, the growth, and the ACCEPTANCE are going to come from USED electric automobiles.
As for running out of juice:
“See How E.V. Road Trips Went From Impossible to Easy”
“Long drives that were once effectively impossible with an electric car have become doable. Routes that once required careful planning now have abundant fast chargers.”
And the pace of charger installation has picked up:
“America Keeps Adding EV Chargers. Will There Be More Drivers to Use Them?”
As for Chinese battery technology:
“Five-Minute EV Charging Is Here, but Not for U.S.-Made Cars”
CATL’s and BYD’s rapid-charging technologies underscore China’s dominance in the EV sector, a technological priority for Xi Jinping”
You can’t stop the hands of progress. You can bury your head in the sand, but that does not mean that time does not march on, that innovation ceases.
This is what the public wants… Not electric cars per se, but maintenance-free USED CARS!
You hear the story all the time… My car broke down and I have no way to get to work. Or my car broke down, and I don’t have the money to fix it. Those complaints are kaput with electric cars. Who wouldn’t want a used electric car?
Sure, they won’t have the latest innovations, but neither does your used gasoline car. And they may not be able to get the latest software, but the old software is good enough to keep them running.
All this news about the death of the electric car because of the elimination of governmental subsidies is just plain wrong. There are now enough used electric vehicles in America to create a market… People are clamoring for them. And what sells everything these days is word of mouth, and word of mouth on used electric cars is about to become DEAFENING!
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Originally published by Bob Lefsetz at the Leftsetz Letter
