Today’s going to be a big electric car day around these parts, though we’ll make sure to temper that with some good ol’ gas-powered weirdness. We’ve just posted a review of the Mustang Mach-E Rally and have the Equinox EV review coming out at noon. There’s a lot of news as well.
Right off the tip, there’s some interesting data out there about where electric cars are distributed. You won’t be surprised to find out that California is the key EV market, but maybe you wouldn’t expect Florida and Texas to be increasing their EV and hybrid fleets.
This switch towards electrification isn’t going to be evenly distributed geographically or over time, and that’s going to screw with some suppliers according to site favorite Carlos Tavares. This uneven market is having a huge impact on Fisker, which just unloaded another huge chunk of its staff in a mass layoff.
The delayed rollout of the Volkswagen ID.7 in the United States doesn’t seem to bother most dealers, who didn’t seem to think it was going to be a success in the first place. Aight, let’s Dump.
All EVs Are Belong To California (And Florida And Texas)
I’m going to link to The Detroit News version of this Bloomberg story because there’s no subscription required to read it, but shoutout Kyle Stock for his hard work pulling out some fun numbers:
Almost one-third of new electric vehicles are going to one of three states: California, Florida or Texas, according to CarGurus data. To some degree, that makes sense — they are the most populous states. If a third of drivers are interested in buying an EV, that third represents more potential buyers in California than Montana.
But the byproduct is a dearth of options for drivers elsewhere. At the end of the first quarter, some 23 states had fewer than 1,000 electric vehicles on offer, excluding automakers like Tesla Inc. that do an end-run around traditional dealerships. Nine states had fewer than 400.
Did you catch that?
- Nearly 1/3rd of new EVs are going to CA/FL/TX
- About half of states have fewer than 1,000 new EVs listed
- Nine have fewer than 400
The big caveat in this data is that it excludes automakers who sell directly to customers, so no Rivian, Polestar, and, more importantly, no Tesla in here. But on a relative basis, it shows that EVs are not a universal phenomenon everywhere in the United States.
If you look at CarGurus’ quarterly report you can also see that this gap is growing as California, Texas, and Florida continue to grab more and more inventory relative to other states.
This means that if you want an EV in some of the states with few EVs for sale (Wyoming, The Dakotas, Maine, et cetera) you’re likely to lack a lot of options. From the same Bloomberg article:
[I]f you want an ID.4 in South Dakota, you better act fast — only three in the state are unspoken for. The same is true in Arkansas and Mississippi, according to the latest data from CarGurus Inc., a listing platform that captures most US new car inventory.
If you live in South Dakota and drive an ID.4 please reach out!
Guy Being Sued By Suppliers Is Suddenly Worried About Suppliers
As CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Taveras (pictured above), has found himself in frequent conflict with his own suppliers, resulting in multiple lawsuits.
And, yet, Tavares sort of sounds worried about suppliers in a conversation with the Bernstein Strategic Decisions conference, via Reuters:
Tavares said the challenge for automakers was to sell EVs, whose production costs are 40% to 50% higher, at the same price as equivalent petrol models. This forces them to cut costs at every level of their operations, including supply chains and logistics.
“You are going to see a huge shift of the supplier base. The sourcing will move from the Western world to the best cost countries,” he said during the Bernstein Strategic Decisions conference.
“The EV race has become a cost cutting race,” he added.
Lol, ok, maybe it’s not so much a concern for his suppliers but a warning. The other way to read this is Tavares saying to governments and suppliers: Hey, we’re going to have to ship your jobs to Malaysia if you don’t help us out on costs.
Bloodbath At Fisker
Fisker, the automaker, is in trouble. Its founder/CEO is selling his house, reporters and investigators are looking into the company, and the company’s one car is not selling well.
The company owes a lot of money to an unnamed investor and is possibly headed for bankruptcy. According to this report from TechCrunch, that investor insisted on more layoffs than the hundreds that occurred:
Founder and CEO Henrik Fisker told employees that the large investor his company owes money to — and the chief restructuring officer working on the investor’s behalf — wanted to let more people go, according to employees who attended. Fisker has never disclosed who is ultimately behind the convertible debt investment in question, though Henrik Fisker did reference Heights Capital Management during Wednesday’s meeting when discussing the layoffs, according to the two employees. Heights Capital Management is an affiliate of financial services giant Susquehanna International Group.
Not good.
Dealers Don’t Seem To Care About Losing The ID.7
Here’s a quote from Automotive News that could literally be about almost any new expensive electric car:
“We brought up a little bit of caution behind it,” Luciano said. “Are we sure this is a good idea? We didn’t know an exact pricing, but [it’s] definitely a $50,000 to $60,000 car, without incentives. Is there any chance of it being competitive? And we felt like [it’s] not.”
That’s John Luciano, owner of Street Volkswagen in Amarillo, Texas, who said that most dealers are cool with VW’s decision to delay the Volkswagen ID.7 sedan, a car we apparently drove. Thomas has a good take on this you should read, but it’s nice to see automakers starting to accept that there’s not a huge demand for $60,000 EVs from mainstream, nonluxury brands.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Since we’re talking about Florida I had to do it. I don’t know that I love this album, though I’ve been required to listen to it a bunch. I do love Florence + The Machine and it’s a fun song.
The Big Question
How many people do you know who own an EV?
I think I’d be scared to be an EV owner in Texas 😀
Curious if this would save them enough money to offset the lost IRA rebates.
Then again, the way Tavares is going it wouldn’t shock me if he traded a $7500 rebate for a $5000 reduction in parts cost. I mean, this is the same guy who stopped paying suppliers but expected them to keep sending him parts.
I know 0 people with EVs. The demographics in my area just don’t favor the current offerings.
I am actively in the market for an ev, the used market seems to correlate with the geography of the new vehicle availability. Lots more vehicles to choose from if I’m willing to have shipped something from California or Florida.
I know two people who bought Tesla’s and brag about how much better they are. I ask how, spending to much for a half assed car?
Myself I am looking at an EV as a commuter but not sure if the cold weather experience (north east) has gotten better with the new tech. Plus while I would add a charger to my house, need more out there like at a work.
The only people I can think of that own an EV are my wife’s cousin and her husband (they have a Model Y).
However, I own a ’17 Volt which I basically operate in full electric as much as possible. I’ll use gas so I don’t have to burn too much to empty the tank after 12 months, but otherwise, the 50-70 miles of range it gets regularly (weather-dependent on the 20 mile split there) without issue is more than plenty, charging it every night.
My “best tank” was a few years back was 7100 miles – and I still had ~2.5 gallons left when Fuel Maintenance Mode kicked in to empty the tank.
I know 1 person with an EV and he keeps showing up at my house with an extension cord. It’s a 2015 Spark with a max range of 80 miles.
I live in one of the top 10 EV inventory states but not the top three. EVs are apparently very popular among people who work in small industrial buildings because we can pull up to the buildings and charge up on a 240v line. My two adjacent business neighbors own EVs and I just joined them. Also I know of at least two younger families who have added EVs recently. My older friends still resist. I probably wouldn’t have gone EV if I had to charge up at home because it would be costly to install the charging equipment. But it was a piece of cake at work.
I wonder how long that will last. It’s great to fill up for free, but someone is paying for that electricity and if enough people are doing this they’ll start to care a lot more.
The electricity isn’t free. All of the EV owners in my industrial row own the businesses so it comes out of our pockets…If employees owned personal electric cars, I would look into adding outlets, but they would still have to pay for the electricity. On a positive note, EVs are getting the equivalent of 100 mpg or so and the prices for the cars are going down, so they are economical to own.
I used to have an EV but had to trade it in when I moved from California to Louisiana. At the time (I’ve since moved back to California) charging infrastructure was pretty much non-existent.
I’d have jumped all over a PHEV van a couple years ago if Toyota or Honda offered one. Since the van is the road trip car I wouldn’t want a full on EV van right now.
For my car, it didn’t make financial sense to pay a premium to get an EV (or even PHEV) given how little I drive each month.
Now for the organal question, a lot of our neighbors own EVs, but we’re in the EV mecca.
I’m in SW Va. My sister leases a Polestar 2–and that’s it. I see a fair few Teslas, Ionic 5&6s reasonably often, and a Rivian is kind of an occasion. Or, maybe I’m just partial to the blank-owl stare.
I know one person with an EV, my brother-in-law has an ID4. It’s his commuter and take the kids to school vehicle, my sister has an ICE Tiquan that is the family road trip car.
I drove the ID4, I like the EV driving experience, the instant torque blew my mind, I loved that experience.
They can’t have a home charger yet due to limitations with the current wiring at the house, but he has a charging lot right around the corner from his office. He’ll typically stop at the lot after client meetings and work on his laptop while it charges.
There are about 120 people that work at my location, including a lot of engineers, and not one EV yet.
I don’t think I know anyone personally who owns an EV. I know some with PHEVs, but not a pure EV.
So there’s me and wife, and we have 2 EVs so that’s a 100% sampling right there. At work I have the only pure ev, there’s a few hybrids around the lot, in the neighborhood there’s 1 other Bolt, and I see a couple Ioniqs about, but that’s about it.
Zero Teslas specifically in my neighborhood, but the Charlotte area it’s like every 5th car is a Tesla now.
Also, maybe it’s the spin of the articles, but Autopian is generally low-spin, but anyone else see Taveras going the way of Ghosn? Being smuggled out of Italy in some fine Corinthian luggage or some such? Seems like he’s making enemies on all sides, and if profits aren’t up there, the board may be unveiling the newest coup to him, and yes without the e.
I have an order in on a Tesla MY. While I despise Elon, hopefully using his money for almost free was too appealing to pass up. The car also ticked every box for a new car that my better half had.
Some relatives have an older Tesla Model S and a late model XC90 Recharge. They love them both. No issues charging at home and they’re saving a bundle on gas coming from their previous Explorer and Acura MDX.
Director of R&D has a Model 3, as does the dude in the cube next to me, and he is a software developer.
As for my circle of friends, none.
I’ve been actively seeking to go into more debt lately. As such, one focus has been the IONIC 5, after reviewing all the others available. Been driving through various car lots as well with the wife to look. I’ve NEVER been in the market for a new car, but for some reason, I’m entertaining it now.
I really want an electric vehicle I don’t have to touch for 5 or so years. I REALLY want to see what car ownership is like when I don’t have to worry about servicing an engine. I’m getting old, and things like breaks and wiper fluid are becoming the extent of what I want to work on. I especially don’t want to crawl under a car anymore without a lift.
On my street of 20 or so houses, there are 8 EV’s.
At work, in our group of 40, at least 10 of us drive EV’s.
We like our EV’s here in Quebec.
As for the Equinox, most dealers seem to have some on their lots already.
So much for the “EVs aren’t good in cold weather!!” meme!
It also helps that our charging infrastructure is pretty robust.
Quick googling says 9200+ public stations for a fleet of approx 170000 EV and plug-in hybrids.
The ID7 looks like an electric Arteon, which we know sold in the dozens (is it even still available?). So it is not surprising the dealers let out a collective yawn that they won’t have to keep one on the lot for the rare customer that is interested.
It looks like Fisker has most Oceans around $38k, which is still quite a bit of money for a car that will likely have next to zero support in a couple months. Maybe if some rich guy wants a neat golf cart.
I don’t really *know* anyone with an EV. My neighbors have a Model S and Model Y. I see a Polestar in my neighborhood quite a bit.
Maybe there are so few EV’s for sale because you are not writing enough articles about EV’s.
Fisker: You have no chance to survive, make your time.
I know several people with EVs. Not unexpected as a SoCal resident. One friend commutes from Northern San Diego to Irvine in a VW ID4 every day, which seems nuts to me.
I see you’re a meme connoisseur.
For great justice.
Guy at work has an Audi whateverthefuck EV CUV, a fired guy had a Tesla 3, one neighbor had an orange Jaguar I-Pace that he didn’t seem to have for very long, and another has/d a green Rivian R1T. Haven’t seen the Rivian in a while, but this is an uppity neighborhood with houses set back behind gates and privacy shrubbery with garages, so he might still have it. I know more left leaning people than right (though they’re mostly pretty moderate) and there’s a common wariness about EVs that’s not usually because of range anxiety, but due to dislike of the new tech (touchscreens and nannies, like EAB that slam on the brakes for phantoms, though much of that same tech is in ICE cars, too) and concerns with longevity, which I always find a bit surprising to hear as those are the main reasons I don’t want one, yet they’re mostly affluent people that tend not to hold onto their modestly premium cars terribly long, none of them are car enthusiasts or seem like the analog sort of person I am, nor do they likely get the induced rage from hearing electronic alerts that I do (a hypersensitivity supposedly related to PTSD, so maybe it’s a relic from that). It does make me feel better about my anti-BS tech rants on here, though!
I would expect the main reason New York’s behind Florida is two things that have been true about the NYC metro for decades, namely that Midtown and Lower Manhattan are home to a higher percentage of people who could maybe afford a car, certainly if they lived elsewhere, but choose not to; and huge swaths of its’ suburbs are located in other states (something not true of any large Texas or Florida cities and certainly not any California ones).
Genuine. If you lived the city, why would you need a car in the first place?
Typical. Just forgetting about the part of New York that is north and west of NYC. Which is about all of it. There are four other fairly large metro areas (Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo) well away from NYC. Those have a fair number of EV’s. Enough that Tesla has a delivery center outside of Syracuse and service centers elsewhere. Rivian is opening one in Rochester. There’s more to NY than just the city.
There is more to this world than just Manhattan? 🙂
There is! Try it sometime!
I only know one person with an EV. He and his wife have a Model Y. He’s a huge tech person who quit his day job to develop an app…so obviously the whole Tesla thing is hugely appealing to him, although he’s pretty progressive and is decidedly not a fan of Musk/feels some guilt about leasing his product.
My dad has a PHEV that’s amazing. Over the first 12,000 miles with gas and electric combined it’s averaged nearly 40 MPG, which is amazing considering he isn’t exactly focused on hyper miling and is pretty half assed about charging it. My wife will need a new car in the next few years and we’re pretty set on a traditional hybrid or PHEV.
Other than that it’s all still ICE, which is a bit odd considering we live in DC and most of the folks in our circle are pretty left leaning and even the righties we’re friends with are more of the log cabin variety than the MAGA one. I’m sure that will start changing and we’ll see more EVs fairly soon, however.
Anyway, of course Fisker is being investigated. The entire thing was a gigantic scam from an adept conman who’s literally done the same thing before. The fact that so many people fell for it a second time is staggering to me. It’s the same shit as last time.
“Oh look at me, I’m just a handsome environmentalist who designs pretty cars and wants to save the world! Here is my product that’s TOTALLY legit, please invest in my company that’s definitely not a scam”
*sells like 15 cars that are a disaster, pockets 8+ figures, buys 50 million dollar compound, leaves trail of death and destruction in his wake. Lather, rinse, repeat*
There was a period early on in this scam when this man was worth more than a BILLION dollars. For designing a pretty car that’s essentially glorified vaporware and going MONEY PLEASE!!! Enough of this shit. He also made his wife CFO for reasons that I’m sure are totally legit and not at all nefarious. Toss these assholes in jail and throw away the key…or they’re going to pop up again in 5-10 years and do it again.
I’m not sure that buying into EV “tech” is as political as you seem to think it is…just saying.
> I’m just a handsome environmentalist
Henrik is many things, but handsome is not one of them.
I know 2 people that have EVs. One bought a Model 3 years ago and still has it in addition to a Honda Pilot. The other guy just bought an iD.4 after having ongoing issues with his Equinox and his wife’s VW Beetle.
At work we probably have like 20 to 25 EV charging stations in premium locations in the lot. They are always mostly filled with a brand of EV that the company doesn’t make. They get better parking than even some sections of the parking lot reserved for only the company’s branded vehicles and/or drivers that have Pride (in the company or in general).
Myself, I do however know someone with an electric aircraft tug (that is a POS)
I live in a fairly affluent suburb and I see quite a few Teslas and Hyundai/Kia EVs roaming around that town. But I’m kind of an introvert and don’t know any of those people. I do know two people that own them outside of town. One guy I autocross with runs a Tesla Model S and the president of my company has a Lucid. I know who he is, but he doesn’t know my name. I’m ok with that.
Oh, shit. I also know a guy with a Rivian in Atlanta.
Oh, and I just remembered that my sister and husband now have twin EV9s.
So I guess I know more people who have them than I thought, now that I actually think about it.
I don’t think Tavares is worried about suppliers. To me, his statement sounds like he’s threatening to source parts in China directly if the current suppliers won’t fall in line on the prices.