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It’s been a few years since many electric saloons started getting great reviews – most notably, of course, the Tesla range.
Not only were they producing good performance figures, but things like their range and recharge times indicated they were practical. So, now one need not think of traveling 500 kms in multiple stages and over multiple days to allow for re-charging or battery swap.
Rewind 5 years and everyone was predicting that by now, we would all be deafened by the silence of our streets as everything turned to a quiet hum. The odd combustion-engine car would be viewed with scorn or sympathy and we would all also have clean air around us as a benefit.
However, this has not happened. Why so?
Price rears its ugly head
Some of the most acclaimed electric cars, and often the most attractive in terms of range and performance, remain prohibitively expensive.
Some models retail for around US$100k. Even for major businesses and reputable limousine rental companies, these are prices that would cause anyone to blink when reading those ads.
True, there are more modest cars around. This is great news but then things start to get complicated in terms of battery ‘issues’ (leasing, ownership, life expectancy, swapping period) and so on. Some commentators have observed that a doctorate in mathematics is required to try and work out how much the ‘bottom line’ is and when you get there, suddenly that small car doesn’t look ‘small’ in terms of price.
Display
For most of the mass market, performance is a secondary issue. Yes, you may drool over the Tesla-S and other such iconic marques that can reach 60 mph before even sitting in the car but in reality, such performance is completely irrelevant in most driving environments that are urban or suburban. Are urban.
Those who do may be excited by a Ferrari’s performance figures but that doesn’t mean they’re going to (or be able to) buy one.
What the typical buyer wants to know in terms of electric car performance:
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Will this vehicle tackle steep hills?
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How will it handle gridlocked traffic jams in terms of power consumption?
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What is its range before needing a recharge?
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How long will it take to recharge?
Now surprisingly, although these questions aren’t exactly rocket science, it isn’t easy to get solid figures looking at the many electric car ads out there. When you look at them, things start to look an awful lot like the ‘old days’ for electric vehicles.
Complete tables of data begin to appear. For example, figures that say the car has a range of 250 miles/ 400 km before a recharge may not sound very impressive. They certainly make a loss sound less impressive again (horror limits) when attached with little caveats like “may be less in winter“. Many typical buyers will want to leave the house in inclement weather knowing they will get there – not depart on one”let’s wait and see what happens“Base.
A lot of statistics for electric vehicles are the liquid limit of the ether and there are a lot of qualifiers. Another example is recharge time, which often cites a plurality of options depending on your power source. Some seem reasonable at 3 hours but then you find out you don’t know what that particular recharger is. Others seem comically unrealistic like “21 hours out of normal plug socket,
Try explaining to your boss that you’ll be late tomorrow because your car is being charged!
complications
A final observation concerning barriers to mass electric car take-up is that some advertising web sites are nearly incomprehensible.
The typical new car mass-market buyer wants to see a clear option that states “Model X = $”. Sure, we all understand that some things are configurable such as engine size, color scheme and so on – plus all of those will have a price impact.
Although people probably don’t want to think that when they walk into their showroom they need to take a QC, engineer, statistician and accountant with them to explain the battery, performance variables, all the different options around. re-charge rates and so on.
Until electric vehicles become cheaper, advertising and pricing easier to understand and, above all, their recharge rates improve, their uptake is likely to be limited to niche market segments.
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