After years of overestimating the market, EV adoption has finally taken off, and the market is growing faster than ever with a new report from Bloomberg is pointing out that once a country hits 5% EV adoption it only accelerates from there, and the United States just passed the ever-important barrier.
The market had many starts and stops over the years, each time it looked like it had reached an inflection point things were reeled back in. However, due to rising gas prices, a diverse set of new EV lines, and the continued build-out of charging stations, EVs are starting to truly take over the industry.
Large Automakers Are Taking EVs Seriously
Only a few years ago the only real player in the EV manufacturer world was Tesla (and BYD if you’re living outside the US) but with the starting price of a Model S in the $75k range it looked like EVs would remain in the high-end luxury class not suitable more mass adoption. However, as Tesla slowly ate into luxury automotive sales other large automakers started to take notice. Today more than 58 plug-in electric vehicle models are available in the US, 26 of which are all-electric.
More stunning is that most automakers have committed to building multiple all-new lines of electric vehicles, many of which are in vehicle classes that have typically dominated the US market, trucks and SUVs. Now that the load isn't solely shouldered by Tesla consumers have far more choice afforded to them.
Costs are Plummeting
As mentioned previously, it wasn’t that long ago that the majority of electric vehicles were exclusively luxury vehicles. While the average cost of an EV is still hovering around $50k that doesn’t tell the whole story. Even though many EVs are shipping with a higher than average price tag the entry point for EVs continues to drop.
Tesla famously pushed the idea of a sub-$35k vehicle, the Model 3, and had many pundits claiming the idea was ludicrous and would enviably lead the company to financial ruin (for what its worth it nearly did). However, today the 2023 Chevy Bolt has a starting point of $26.5k, a mere $1.5k more than a Toyota Camry, without the use of any incentives. It remains to be seen if this will push more to adopt an EV, but this continued decrease will have profound implications on the future market most notably the used vehicle market.
Today, some great deals can be found on the used market with many vehicles coming in under $30k. With the new Bolt undercutting those vehicles the prices are sure to drop in order to stay competitive as the Bolt is not only cheaper but far more feature rich than many used autos out there. With these costs falling there is only one last domino before EVs can truly take over the market and that's charging.
Charging Remains an Issue for Some
The main knock against EVs today is access to charging and while this infrastructure has taken a major leap over the past decade there is still work to be done. To be clear, it all depends on where you live and what type of home you live in.
In certain states like California, access to public charging isn’t really much of an issue. The state has led the way in pushing EV adoption and as such has gotten quite a lot of public infrastructure built out. Public charging is an important piece to the overall health of the EV market but its no silver bullet. What's needed now more than ever, is charging where people park their cars the most and that's at home.
Those living in apartments and condos still face issues when getting access to charging. Most notably that bringing charging into a single-family home is fairly easy and affordable, whereas apartments have quite a few more hurdles to overcome. This is why Orange introduced the Orange Outlet 520 and Orange Outlet 620 to the market. These devices bring affordable access to any property.
Reliable EV charger that’s even easier to manage.
