6 ms·

There's a lot of path dependence, ossified thinking, and perverse incentives driving this irrational outcome. SUVs and pickup trucks are 80% of the US market be

There's a lot of path dependence, ossified thinking, and perverse incentives driving this irrational outcome. SUVs and pickup trucks are 80% of the US market because bigger is better in America so customers buy the biggest cars and houses they can afford. On the manufacturer side MSRP is proportional to size and curb weight. GM quit the economy sedan market. Government fuel economy mandates are more forgiving of larger vehicles and provide a "light duty truck" exemption. Gasoline is cheap and always available so all the lessons we learned in 1973 have long been forgotten. Charging networks except for Tesla's suck. Weak charging infrastructure means customers have range anxiety and like many other things in America feel like they are going it alone and cannot rely on sharing or renting on demand, so they demand a huge battery. This huge battery is very expensive so the price of a EV is very high. People expect an expensive car to be luxurious, powerful, or huge. No one wants to pay a green premium. Individuals are rationally responding to government subsidized road and parking infrastructure, lack of any carbon tax, and cheap fuel by consuming bigger cars without bound. Manufacturers are rationally maximizing short term profit by following demand. They're applying the ICE business model of externalizing the cost of roads, "fuel," parking, pollution, insurance. If it wasn't for trillions of dollars spent on car infrastructure like wide roads, highways, mandated parking, gas stations, etc. adoption of ICE cars would also be low. America has extreme car dependency. Just legalizing apartments, mixed use zoning, and building safe e-Bike lanes and mass transit could relieve some car demand and housing shortage in big cities where most people live. The IRA law literally subsidizes big EVs more than sedans! Even owning a car creates crash safety anxiety in which people feel like driving a sedan is not safe enough because everyone else is driving an oversized SUV.

brucethemoose2 3y ago
Some of this is negated if manufacturers just sell plug in hybrids with tiny range-extending generators. But mostly they are not, and that is particularly perplexing to me. Is there some kind of stigma against anything but a pure EV?
- supertrope 3y ago
  Plug-in hybrids only seem to be sold in certain states like California. GM cancelled the Chevy Volt. In states that don't subsidize or mandate them, or are ahem politically opposed to lower tailpipe emission vehicles, inventory is very thin. I wonder if these cars are just compliance models to bring up the CAFE fleet average. A 10 kWh battery adds several thousand dollars to the cost of the car. If manufacturers are not eager to make these widely available in all states it suggests they don't find it profitable. I'm not sure if it's EVs being higher priced and allowing for more margin, or sedans fading away from the market and therefore any PHEV sedans. Toyota does sell a PHEV SUV RAV4 but inventory is very scarce. Stellantis sells a Chrysler Pacifica PHEV (minivan).
  - brucethemoose2 3y ago
    > A 10 kWh battery adds several thousand dollars to the cost of the car. If manufacturers are not eager to make these widely available in all states it suggests they don't find it profitable. A plug in hybrid is basically an EV with a much smaller battery though, and what must be a cheap generator. It seems at least as economical as a pure EV to me, unless the generator "taints" them and they cannot be sold with higher margins.
- seanmcdirmid 3y ago
  PHEVs are like the worst of both worlds. You have a heavy battery, and a combustion engine on the side. Just go one way or the other already. Toyota already makes a lot on selling hybrids, and I believe at least one Prius model is a PHEV.
  - supertrope 3y ago
    They fit in a niche. People who can charge it every day and have a commute that fits within the battery only range can go months without buying gasoline. There used to be a $10,000 spread between a PHEV and 200 mi BEV.
    - seanmcdirmid 3y ago

brucethemoose2 3y ago

Some of this is negated if manufacturers just sell plug in hybrids with tiny range-extending generators. But mostly they are not, and that is particularly perplexing to me. Is there some kind of stigma against anything but a pure EV?

supertrope 3y ago
Plug-in hybrids only seem to be sold in certain states like California. GM cancelled the Chevy Volt. In states that don't subsidize or mandate them, or are ahem politically opposed to lower tailpipe emission vehicles, inventory is very thin. I wonder if these cars are just compliance models to bring up the CAFE fleet average. A 10 kWh battery adds several thousand dollars to the cost of the car. If manufacturers are not eager to make these widely available in all states it suggests they don't find it profitable. I'm not sure if it's EVs being higher priced and allowing for more margin, or sedans fading away from the market and therefore any PHEV sedans. Toyota does sell a PHEV SUV RAV4 but inventory is very scarce. Stellantis sells a Chrysler Pacifica PHEV (minivan).
- brucethemoose2 3y ago
  > A 10 kWh battery adds several thousand dollars to the cost of the car. If manufacturers are not eager to make these widely available in all states it suggests they don't find it profitable. A plug in hybrid is basically an EV with a much smaller battery though, and what must be a cheap generator. It seems at least as economical as a pure EV to me, unless the generator "taints" them and they cannot be sold with higher margins.
seanmcdirmid 3y ago
PHEVs are like the worst of both worlds. You have a heavy battery, and a combustion engine on the side. Just go one way or the other already. Toyota already makes a lot on selling hybrids, and I believe at least one Prius model is a PHEV.
- supertrope 3y ago
  They fit in a niche. People who can charge it every day and have a commute that fits within the battery only range can go months without buying gasoline. There used to be a $10,000 spread between a PHEV and 200 mi BEV.
  - seanmcdirmid 3y ago