The Expert Podcast

Well, this is pretty bad news for the electric vehicle industry. There was a survey that came out this week that said 40% of people who bought an EV want to go back to a gas vehicle. 40%—it's almost half. So not only are fewer people wanting to buy electric vehicles, but the ones who already did don't want them. They want to go back. So it's almost like the market is going backward. That's probably why a lot of manufacturers are cutting back on electric vehicles.

In the long run, electric vehicles will probably be a great way to have transportation. They'll probably be an excellent option, but that evolution, that development, may take decades. The way electric vehicles are now and the way the charging infrastructure is set up, even people who are current owners and have experience with them don't want them because they've learned that trying to find a charging station, trying to fill up quickly, and trying to go on a long trip is just not working. The 60% that don't want to go back are probably people who have it as a second vehicle and use it around town.

I can say right now, if you are a two- or three-car family and you have one of your cars as an EV just for back-and-forth around town, back-and-forth to work, and you can charge it in your garage at night, it's probably a very good option. That's probably better than a gas car because you never have to stop at a gas station, right? You come home, you plug it in, and the next morning you drive to work, go to the store, or go to church.

An electric vehicle does have a place. As a primary vehicle, as your only vehicle, there are a lot of limitations. But I can even say right now that for a lot of families, a lot of people that have more than one car, if one of your uses is just back-and-forth to work, a short distance, or around town errands, an electric vehicle could be great because you don't have to stop at a gas station ever, even for 5 minutes. And your fueling is cheaper because if you plug in and charge your electrical grid at night when rates are lower, it’ll be way cheaper to fill up your tank than for gasoline.

So there's a use for it. You have to make sure if you're buying one though, that if you buy a used one, you have your battery checked out. If you're buying a new one, you get all your discounts and all your advantages. There's a lot of opportunity for an electric vehicle, but it's not just a blanket thing. They're not either all good or all bad; they're only good in certain scenarios. Down the road in the future, maybe they'll be good in more scenarios, but for right now, it seems like the market has spoken, and it's not ready for prime time for everybody yet.