Written by / Ma Xiaolei
Editor/ Qian Yaguang
Design / Shi Yuchao
Source/techxplore by Elizabeth Weise
There are more models, lower prices, and more support from the government. Americans who hate new energy vehicles the most are also beginning to accept them.
Could it be that the Environmental Awareness of the American Public has awakened? Not really.
Britta Gross, a former director at General Motors, said: "When the first electric cars entered the market around 2008, the prices were prohibitive, the technology was far from where it should be, and they were far from the golden age." She currently works at the Rocky Mountain Institute, an environmental think tank.
The situation has reversed in the last 5 years.
From 110,000 to 650,000
Casey Herman works for a medical company in Indianapolis. In 2017, by chance, he test-drove a Blot electric car at a Chevrolet dealership and immediately bought it.
"I didn't plan to buy a car at all that day, but I just liked it." He said.
In 2017, only about 115,000 electric vehicles were sold in the United States. According to a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, in 2021, the American people bought a total of 657,000 electric vehicles.
While less than 4 percent of all new car sales, new energy vehicle sales in 2021 have already tripled in 2020.
Due to global warming, the United States has also joined the ranks of electric transformation. The U.S. transportation system contributes nearly 30 percent of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, making electric vehicles critical to reducing the U.S. carbon footprint. U.S. President Joe Biden has set a goal that by 2030, half of new U.S. car sales will be electric.
For this change, car companies have chosen to embrace it with open arms. At the United Nations climate conference in November 2021, six major automakers, including Ford and General Motors, pledged to stop selling new gasoline and diesel vehicles by 2040.
Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, the Nordic countries and California have also announced that they will gradually stop selling new fuel vehicles by 2040. Globally, according to the International Energy Agency, electric vehicles account for 9% of new car sales. And 20 percent of new cars sold in Europe last year were electric.
Among the many countries, Norway's incentives for electric vehicles are the most generous, so much so that the country's electric vehicle sales account for 90% of new car sales. China is the world's largest automotive market and is expected to account for 20% of electric vehicle sales in 2022.
Buyers
Climate change is indeed one of the means to encourage people to buy electric vehicles, but today, most electric vehicle buyers are not looking for the environment.
Karsten Blok, an eviction car buyer, said: "I'm not an environmentalist. "He's an IT manager who lives outside of Austin, Texas, USA." I'm not trying to save the world, I'm just trying to save money. ”
In Pauling Green, Kentucky, electric car buyer Mark Minotti called himself an "ultra-conservative Trump supporter" because Trump is so famous that people around him couldn't believe he drove it.
"I think electric cars save money than gas cars, why not drive them?" Minotti said. He works at a biscuit factory and commutes 20 miles (32 kilometers) each way. "I never charged more than $20 a month, but I saved $100 on gas."
Bradley Lane, an urban planning professor at the University of Kansas who studies electric vehicles, said a new generation of eviction buyers will decide whether the U.S. can meet climate goals.
"Rising oil prices could make them think: Should we switch to an electric car," he said. ”
According to the Pew Research Center, 1 in 4 Americans said it's "a little likely" to choose an electric car when they buy a car next time.
The UC Davis study points to a shift in mindset among EV buyers. The first group of buyers are the first to buy electric cars, they are the first to dare to eat crabs, want to have the latest technology. The second category of buyers is close behind, needing to innovate while keeping the technology secure.
The third category is that when electric vehicles begin to enter the mass market, they begin to notice the existence of electric vehicles. But this group of consumers need to see the tangible benefits of electric vehicles and see that electric vehicles will be on the road for a certain number of years before they consider buying them. Gil Tal, director of the university's Electric Vehicle Research Center, said: "They are called the 'original majority'. ”
According to the California Energy Commission, the "initial majority" has emerged in California, where more than 663,000 electric vehicles have been sold.
"In other parts of the U.S., progress has been slower," Herman said. In Indianapolis, most people still believe that cars should run on gasoline. ”
Price
Lane said: "The price of many new electric vehicles has begun to meet people's psychological expectations. There will be more and more models, and the automaker plans to launch at least 30 new models in the next two years. ”
There has been great interest in Ford's F-150 Lightning electric pickup. The company received about 200,000 deposits before it stopped accepting bookings in December 2021. The car is expected to start at $40,000 and will begin deliveries this year.
Even if electric cars are priced higher than gasoline cars in the same class, incentives such as the U.S. federal tax credit are enough to offset the difference between the two, with some models offering tax credits as high as $7,500.
Of the 2022 new cars, the Nissan Leaf starts at $27,400, the Chevrolet Bolt at $31,500, the Hyundai Kona at $34,000, and the best-selling Tesla Model 3 at $44,990.
Electric vehicles are less expensive to maintain because they don't have engines, so there's no need to change oil, and there are far fewer mechanical parts that can be damaged.
Matthew Moran, a biology professor at Hendricks College in Conway, Arkansas, said his Ford Muskang Mach-E needs nothing but "on."
"My car has traveled 8,000 miles (12,800 kilometers) and so far I've spent $23 on maintenance," he said. ”
charge
Nissan Leaf owner Brent Newman charges mainly at night. The Denver resident said, "Electricity is cheaper at night, and it only costs $2.60 to fully charge." Now that oil prices are soaring, doesn't that sound tempting? ”
Although some media reports say that the charging cost of electric vehicles is higher, this assumption is that most people choose to charge at public charging piles, which may be more expensive. The Department of Energy estimates that on average, 81 percent of charging is done at home, 14 percent in the workplace, and 5 percent at public charging stations.
On March 7, the average gasoline price in the United States rose to $4.10 a gallon. Matteo Muratori, chief analyst at the Department of Energy, calculates that the cost of refueling a midsize gasoline car is more than $55; the cost of fully charging an electric vehicle of the same class using a public fast charging pile is $20-45; and the cost of charging at home is $16 or less.
The charging infrastructure in the United States is rapidly improving. Congress passed a federal infrastructure plan last November that would invest $7.5 billion to add 500,000 charging piles to the nation's network.
On May 13 this year, the U.S. Department of Transportation will publish national standards for electric vehicle charging piles to ensure that every installed charging pile can be used normally.
Gross said: "The national charging infrastructure system will be as important as the national highway system. ”
Quinton Lawman, who lives in Palma de Mallorca, Ohio, needs to travel frequently to Buffalo, New York. Four years ago, when he got his Chevrolet Bolt, there was only one charging station along the route.
"There are six now." "For longer trips, charging requires planning," he said. There are apps that can reflect the situation at various charging stations across the country and calculate the best route. The whole planning process takes only 10 minutes. ”
Battery life anxiety
The biggest disadvantage of electric vehicles is that the endurance is limited, and the distribution breadth of charging stations is far less than that of gas stations. Tarr said: "But endurance anxiety is gradually becoming obsolete. ”
So far, only about 2 percent of the calls to electric vehicles received by the Association of The Automobiles of America (AAA) are due to the fact that the car has run out of power. In some areas, AAA has begun offering curbside charging.
"For battery life, there are still many cognitive misunderstandings in the market." "Five or six years ago, some models had a range of only 80 miles (128 kilometers), but by today's standards, it's about the same as a cultural relic," he said. ”
Today, electric vehicles can easily reach 250 miles (400 kilometers), and some can even reach 400 miles (640 kilometers). That's more than enough for the vast majority of Americans' driving needs. "According to the Department of Transportation Statistics, before the pandemic, the average American drove 40 miles (64 kilometers) a day," Tal said. ”
In Texas, Bullock believes his electric car can meet 95 percent of his transportation needs. "Even if you temporarily rent a fuel car to spend the weekend in a faraway place, it's cheaper than owning a fuel car," he said. ”
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