I don't know where this "softening EV demand" narrative that's all over the news is coming from, but I don't have the numbers at my fingertips so I guess it could be true.
As a Tesla owner living in flyover country, I would say aside from politics there's a few things influencing the market.
- People still assume Tesla = $100K+ car. Nobody knows what Model 3 or Model Y or Model S is, and I can't blame them since the cars all look the same
- People still see my car and ask me what the gas mileage is, even when they know it's a Tesla, they just assume Teslas are hybrid cars like a Prius
- People still have no idea where the Supercharging stations are or that they even exist, because there aren't nearly enough of them around here
- People still haven't processed the idea that you can plug in your car and charge it at home
I wanted a Model 3 a little while back. When I did the numbers it would have cost about 3 times as much to run as my little Honda even including gas. Mostly because of the insurance price difference. I think I would pay about $400/month compared to the $100/month I pay now.
If you have a lot of money it's a great way to go, but electric is going to have trouble competing in the economy market for a while until they start making cars that make the insurance people happy.
As a Tesla owner living in flyover country, I would say aside from politics there's a few things influencing the market.
- People still assume Tesla = $100K+ car. Nobody knows what Model 3 or Model Y or Model S is, and I can't blame them since the cars all look the same
- People still see my car and ask me what the gas mileage is, even when they know it's a Tesla, they just assume Teslas are hybrid cars like a Prius
- People still have no idea where the Supercharging stations are or that they even exist, because there aren't nearly enough of them around here
- People still haven't processed the idea that you can plug in your car and charge it at home