By Jo Nova

The cost problem is solved (for all the wrong reasons), but it’s still not enough

Around the world, governments are trying to force people to buy electric vehicles because they are nice people who are worried about polar bears. And since drivers out there all believe in climate change, according to all the pollsters, it shouldn’t be a big ask. (Who wouldn’t want to save the Earth?)

Supposedly, just 10 years from now, they told us, we wouldn’t be able to buy a new combustion engine car at all.  Instead, not only are sales of new EV slowing rapidly, to the point where there is a glut, but as prices fall for used cars customers are not rushing out to pick up the cheaper second hand EVs either.

Look at how fast the turnaround in this market has been in the last year — a 25% price premium– gone:

Kaya Ginsky, CNBC

The difference between the price of a used Tesla Model 3 and BMW 3 Series shows how a “premium” associated with EVs in the initial boom has been erased, according to an analysis from iSeeCars.

The decline has been dramatic over the past year. In June 2023, average used EV prices were over 25% higher than used gas car prices, but by May, used EVs were on average 8% lower than the average price for a used gasoline-powered car in U.S. In dollar terms, the gap widened from $265 in February to $2,657 in May, according to an analysis of 2.2 million one to five year-old used cars conducted by iSeeCars. Over the past year, gasoline-powered used vehicle prices have declined between 3-7%, while electric vehicle prices have decreased 30-39%. 

And all leading indicators are down. Fewer people have plans to buy an EV, and the pool of people who won’t even consider buying one is growing:

A Gallup poll of Americans in April found ownership of EVs increasing by 3% annually, but an equal percentage decline in consumers who indicated serious interest in buying an EV, down from 12% to 9%. Overall, 35% of Americans said they might consider buying an EV in the future, down from 43% last year.

In Germany, the formerly great industrial empire, EV sales are down 30% compared to this time last year, but sales of petrol engines are up 2% and diesel cars are up 3%.

Pierre Gosselin at NoTricksZone tells us the German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) reports a 30.6% fall in registration of new electric cars compared to May a year ago.

CO2 emissions of new German cars also rose 3.3%…indicating the green transition has stalled and is reversing.

Hat-tip: Blackout News

The KBA also adds that 89,498 passenger cars were equipped with a gasoline engine – an increase of 2.1 percent compared to the same month last year.

44,893 new cars were diesel-powered, an increase of 3.2 percent compared to the same month last year.

History books will be written about the crazy political EV bubble.