Electric Car Demand is "Strong"?

Hmmmm.

The Wall Street Journal, in a story about the upcoming electric Ford Focus, says demand for electric cars is "strong."

If that is true, why did the Chevy Volt sell just 125 cars in July?
Throughout July, a whopping 125 Chevy Volts were sold, making the seemingly low 281 units sold in February a groundbreaking month.
GM spokeswoman Michelle Bunker attributed the fallback to "supply constraints," alleging that GM was "virtually sold out" and supply was down nationwide. But Mark Modica, associate fellow at the National Legal and Policy Center, confirmed Bunker’s assertion was false, as he wrote on FoxNews.com:
A search of cars.com site showed nearly 500 Chevy Volts listed for sale. I had originally assumed that GM dealers were advertising vehicles that were not actually available for sale, since GM has stated that there were only a "few" Volts available. I decided to call a few dealers within 75 miles of my location to determine what the true situation was. I stopped my research after finding that five of the first six dealers I called had Volts in inventory available for immediate sale. Two of the five dealers even had two each in stock. I can now safely assume that GM is, once again, not being entirely honest with its facts. The demand for the Chevy Volt is not as strong as GM would have us believe.
Modica later clarified his findings with GM’s Direct of Communications, Greg Martin, who attested that there are 116 new Chevy Volts currently available nationwide, plus demo units offered with a hefty discount.
Full story is here.

While I expect Ford's electric Focus to be a more capable car than the Volt, the fact is that demand for all-electric vehicles is -- at the moment -- anything but "strong." I believe the media frequently engages in wistful thinking when it gets into areas dealing with environmentalism.

That said, I believe there is a future for electric vehicles, especially if they are powered by new generation nuclear power. But, just like all groundbreaking technology, costs will need to come down and performance will need to improve.

Comments

  1. It's going to be interesting in 2012 when the Tesla Model S ships to consumers. I wonder if demand will increase at that point. The Tesla Roadster is out of reach in terms of price for the average consumer, but right now at least it still seems to have the "cool" factor going for it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, the Tesla and the Focus will be interesting. If trade rumors are correct and they have better performance than the Volt then one can draw some conclusions as to whether electric cars have a NEAR term appeal (I believe they will have quite significant long term appeal).

    That said, I see nothing that indicates demand is "strong" for electric cars at the moment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice Blog!! I wonder if demand will increase at that point.for more information follow this link: Electric Car

    ReplyDelete
  4. True, the performance of the Tesla sedan may be better, but there is a significant difference between it and the Chevy Volt: the sedan doesn't have an internal combustion engine. That means no more oil changes, no filling up on gasoline, etc. If the savings are not offset by the cost of electricity used to recharge the batteries, that could potentially amount to significant savings and far fewer trips to a service center. :-)

    ReplyDelete
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