Electric Cars Survive Their Own Hype

Consider the following article on the evolution of the electric car:“CHICAGO, Aug 7. Nearly 200 miles on one battery charge is the latest performance of an electric car, setting a new mark for these vehicles. The machine is the joint output of two Cleveland companies and a Chicago company. The performance of the new machine is due to the advanced improvement in the chassis, battery, motor, and running gear which enable it to cover more than twice as many miles on one charge as has been done by electric vehicles before.”I should add some context. The piece above was published in the New York Times on August 8, 1901, almost exactly 125 years ago. (I confess that I updated a few words to make the excerpt feel a little less obviously of its time.) Suffice to say that, while they blossomed for a while, electric vehicles did not catch on in the early twentieth century. Those 200 miles were achieved under very controlled conditions, and they masked the reality of heavy and inefficient batteries, tortuously slow charging and non-existent power grids in much of the country. At the same time, the invention of Ford’s assembly line and the tapping of newly abundant oil in Texas offered cheaper and more convenient car options that electric just couldn’t match. Fast forward a half century, when the February 1959 issue of Motor Trend declared “Electric Cars Are Back.” It was centered around a prototype of the Charles Town-About, a city car demonstrating that the specs had apparently gone backward in the intervening 58 years — or perhaps manufacturers had just become more honest — with a range of 77 miles and a top speed of 58mph. That didn’t cut it either. The project was abandoned, and electric cars were not, in fact, back.But then jump forward another 50 years, to March 2009, when Tesla revealed the Model S prototype, which went on sale in 2012. Suddenly electric cars seemed cool and desirable, rather than crunchy and worthy. When Tesla released the Model 3 in 2017, the market scaled dramatically across the world. Hate or love Elon Musk, but it isn’t a stretch to say that all the manufacturers currently selling EVs stand on the shoulders of Tesla’s innovation and dramatic growth in past decade or so.So, are EVs back for good now? In most of the world, the answer seems to be an unequivocal yes. Norway leads at 97% of new car sales, followed by Denmark at roughly 80%. The UK sits at 35%, while China — which is driving much of this global growth through aggressive exports — has reached around 60%. The increase in gas prices due to the ongoing Iran war has certainly helped in the short term, but the long-term trend is clear: Every time you visit Europe or much of Asia, you will see more EVs on the road.But in this regard, America is something of an outlier on the world stage. Federal antipathy to EVs — most notably in the elimination of the $7,500 rebate — comparatively low gas prices and a healthy dose of American exceptionalism have combined to ensure that just 7% of new car sales in America last year were EVs.No Chinese vehicles are allowed stateside. This Biden-era rule has meant Polestar, the Swedish EV brand now owned by Chinese car company Geely, has been banned from selling new vehicles in America. Whether or not you agree with this policy, its effect is that we are limited here to American, European, Korean and Japanese EVs only. Keeping the Chinese cars away inevitably denies American consumers the cheaper and often more innovative choices that drivers enjoy elsewhere in the world, and which are propelling EV uptake.Nevertheless, there are some great EVs that are now available in America, with more to come. The new Rivian R2, BMW iX3, and Ford Fathom are creating a lot of customer excitement thanks to their pricing, features and general desirability. Higher gas prices are tilting car buyers toward EVs, even if they haven’t fully committed yet. As range on the cars increases, and with more and better fast-charging options available across America, the perception of EVs as just being too much hassle for the driver over here is dissipating.It’s been a 125-year journey, with much still ahead, and with no guarantees. But the signs are promising that EVs will be here to stay this time as an increasingly significant proportion of the cars on US roads. And if you prefer to drive a gas powered V8? Don’t worry. Gasoline and the cars that use it won’t be going anywhere for a very long time. America might be many things, but it isn’t Norway.

Electric Cars Survive Their Own Hype

Electric Cars Survive Their Own Hype

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