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Too bad about the poor car dealerships. After making record profits in the wake of the pandemic and the collapse of just-in-time value chains, they are now complaining that promoting electric cars is too difficult. Nearly 4,000 dealers in the U. S. have sent an open letter to President Joe Biden. calling on the government to slow down its plan to boost the adoption of electric vehicles until 2032.
Despite our physically powerful economy, the United States lags behind Europe and China in terms of electric vehicle adoption. More and more car buyers are choosing to go all-electric vehicles each year, although even a record year in 2023 likely wouldn’t allow EV adoption to succeed. in double-digit percentages.
Recognizing that transportation is the largest segment of carbon emissions in the U. S. , the U. S. By acknowledging that our car-centric society encourages driving, the U. S. Department of Energy has announced that our car-centric society encourages driving. The U. S. Department of Homeland Security published a proposed rule in April that would replace the way the government calculates each automaker’s average fuel consumption. If passed, the new rule would require OEMs to sell far more EVs, adding to a previous White House goal that one in every two new cars sold by 2030 will be an electric vehicle.
And that’s too ambitious, says the collection of car dealers, who say that new EVs are piling up on their forecourts and can’t be sold:
Last year, there was a lot of hope and excitement around electric cars. Early adopters formed a front line and were in a position to buy those cars as soon as we had them for sale. But that enthusiasm has stalled. Today, the source of unsold BEVs is increasing, as they don’t sell as quickly as they reach our dealerships, even with steep price cuts, manufacturer incentives, and generous government incentives.
While regulatory goals are admirable, they require customer acceptance of a reality. With each passing day, it is becoming more and more obvious that this attempt to impose an electric vehicle is unrealistic, given the existing and projected visitor demand. Electric vehicles are already piling up on our lots, which is our best indicator of visitor demand in the market.
The inability of car dealers to sell EVs has not gone unnoticed. Over the summer, industry analysts at Cox Auto made plenty of headlines with data showing that new EV inventory was growing.
“Electric cars sell 3 times slower than [internal combustion engine] cars. So, dealers who have been forced to invest in the electrification space, forced to have off-plan financing for those cars, are looking at 90 to 93 days of stock. Rotation. ” compared to 31 to 32 days for internal combustion cars. And that’s obviously a real challenge for them,” said Jantoon Reigersman, chief executive of TrueCar, a site that allows you to buy new or used cars across the country.
“And what’s more, not only are electric cars more expensive, but their own salespeople aren’t trained. They don’t even know how to answer most of the questions they are asked. Many of them have a turnover rate of 100-200% of their sales staff at any given time, year,” Reigersman told me.
In fact, the profit margins of major brokers didn’t make EVs seem too expensive either.
Complaints indexed through dealerships highlight those familiar with EVs: poor charging infrastructure, batteries that take longer to charge than it takes a tank of fuel to fill up, and loss of towing range.
Helpfully, the dealers published a complete list of the 3,882 signatories, making it very easy for people to see which businesses are opposing action on climate change. And I really have to ask: Why are four Polestar dealers included on this list?
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