Is the car market going down? yes but no
Global sales of electric vehicles for the first half of 2022 increased by 81% compared to the same period last year. And total car sales for the same period were down 12%.
Of course, most of the growth in electric train sales has come from China, where more than 2 million pure electric vehicles (i.e. vehicles that run solely for electric traction) were sold in six months. Sales of hybrid models in China are also growing, and at a fantastic pace – by 170% compared to the same period in 2021. But in the European and American markets, the share of electric vehicles is also growing by leaps and bounds.
What happened to make electric cars suddenly, almost overnight, so popular? In the UK, electric car sales continued to grow even after the abolition of the £1,500 incentive for first-time electric car buyers.
Seeing such growing demand, automakers are rethinking their plans to produce “electric trains”: the same Tesla aims to produce 20 million electric vehicles per year in the near future (now they only get one million per year).
Arguments for”
In the first place, consumer preferences, which are rapidly shifting towards electric vehicles, travel savings. Motorists soon realized that driving an electric car is much more profitable. With an average consumption of 15 kWh per 100 km, the average Chinese will spend $1.22 (the average cost of 1 kWh in China is $0.081). The average price of a liter of gasoline in China is $1.35/litre, with an urban consumption of 10 liters per 100 km it costs $13.5 or 11 times more.
The ratio is about the same for Europe. In the United States, the choice of a car has traditionally been approached conservatively, but after the rise in fuel prices, when Americans started paying an average of $1.08 per liter of gasoline, local drivers calculated that with an annual mileage of 22,000 km, an electric car pays for itself in 10 years of use.
Calculations have been made for mean values:
- $0.11 – the cost of driving 1 km on gasoline;
- $0.014 – the cost of running 1 km (in the US) on electricity;
- $27,000 is the average price of a car in the US.
In general, it is profitable even in America. It is also important that almost all motorists there live in “one-story America”, ie when they have their own house, usually with a garage, and sufficient power can or can be brought to the house. In this way, the owners of “electric trains” are almost losing their dependence on gas stations.
The latest electric vehicle models, the same Volkswagen ID.4, are already competing in price with comparable petrol models.. In the US, this subsidized model can be purchased for about $30,000, which is sometimes even cheaper than the price of gasoline or diesel counterparts. Not surprisingly, there was even a queue for ID.4.
Miracles don’t happen – the economy takes its toll. If traveling by electric car is much cheaper and costs about the same, the consumer will make an unambiguous choice. Especially if he lives in his own house with enough power (15 kW is enough for his eyes).
To ask? There is…
It remains only to understand what the state will do. As soon as tax revenues from the sale of fuel begin to thaw noticeably, they will introduce a tax on electricity for charging (but this is difficult to monitor), or on electric vehicles themselves – the state will never refuse its money.
I wonder when this will happen?
- Read here what foreigners think about the novelty of AVTOVAZ.
- “Behind the wheel” can also be read in Telegram.