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Electric Vehicle Demand Slumps 65% in a Year


Buyer interest in new electric cars has slumped by nearly two-thirds since the start of last year, new figures released this morning suggest, but Government is full of ideas to push the unwanted products on an unconvinced public. The Mail has the story.

Online vehicle marketplace Auto Trader said it recorded a 65% drop in inquiries for electric cars last month compared with January 2022.

The company’s Road to 2030 report blamed the decline in demand for electric vehicles (EV) on a multitude of factors, including their premium price tags, the cost-of-living crisis, higher interest rates for borrowing and increase in energy prices.

The report follows Elon Musk’s suggestion that he will slash the price of Teslas in the U.S. for a staggering sixth time this year in a bid to rejuvenate demand for the company’s battery vehicles.

The price of Model Y vehicles is to be cut by £2,400 to around £37,743, and the Model 3 vehicle by £1,600 to £32,100.

After a series of cuts, the models are a respective 29% and 15% cheaper in the U.S., its largest market, than at the start of the year.

In response, shares dropped 4% in New York during after-hours trading, adding to its 18% decline in the past six months.

Tesla has already slashed U.K. prices of its new cars various times in the UK in 2023, which in turn has hammered the value of second-hand models in recent months.

Auto Trader’s report published on Thursday said the new EV market is being hampered by a lack of affordable choices, with very few models available priced between £20,000 and £30,000.

The analysis also stated that new EVs are an average of 37% more expensive than petrol and diesel cars. …

The RAC says that many motorists are being priced out of EV ownership, which is resulting in them keeping their older – more polluting – petrol and diesel cars longer.

By doing so, it threatens the Government’s targets to cut air pollution levels in the coming years before the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars in 2030.

Ministers are currently consulting with industry about the introduction of a Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate from next year, which will require manufacturers to sell an increasing share of electric cars annually in the run up to the ban on sales of all new motors with internal combustion engines.

From 2024, it has outlined that 22% of all sales by each mainstream car maker must be zero emissions at the tailpipe, and by 2030 this sales share will need to rise to 80%.

Failure to meet these objectives would land manufacturers with fines of up to £15,000 per vehicle over the targets set out in the mandate.

The Government hopes that by introducing penalties it will force the hand of vehicle makers to bring more affordable cars to market that more drivers can afford.

Net Zero really is an anti-capitalist’s and statist’s dream, with never-ending cause for heavy-handed Government intervention and regulation to force people to do the ‘virtuous’ thing over the thing they want to do and that is most convenient and affordable for them. Pure coincidence I’m sure. The only downside of course is more people not being able to afford to buy and do stuff – so, er, increased poverty, in other words.

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