It must be pretty chilly in Hell these days, as I have been told that it will freeze over when I’m right. Well, tell Satan to put on his woolies, as once again I’m proven right when I make some off the wall prediction.
I have been saying that as soon as the cost of the electricity to fuel EVs reaches that of the cost of fueling an ICE vehicle, folks will begin rethinking their EV purchases. Well, its happening in Europe.
From the Wall Street Journal:
In Germany, Tesla has raised supercharger prices several times this year, most recently to 0.71 euros in September before falling somewhat, according to reports from Tesla owners on industry forums. There is no public source to track prices on Tesla superchargers.
At that price, drivers of Tesla’s Model 3, the most efficient all-electric vehicle in the Environment Protection Agency’s fuel guide in the midsize vehicle category, would pay €18.46 at a Tesla supercharger station in Europe for a charge sufficient to drive 100 miles.
By comparison, drivers in Germany would pay €18.31 for gasoline to drive the same distance in a Honda Civic 4-door, the equivalent combustion-engine model in the EPA’s ranking.
Tesla didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The change has been particularly notable in Germany, Europe’s largest car market, where household electricity cost €0.43 per kWh on average in December. This puts it well ahead of France, where consumers paid €0.21 per kWh in the first half of the year, but behind Denmark, where a kWh cost €0.46, according to the German statistics office.
Although this hasn’t had an immediate effect on EV sales, manufacturers are looking closely at the issue. Government subsidies are coming off, insurance rates are increasing, and ongoing maintenance is showing to be high, once you include battery replacement. If folks begin to realize that EVs are substantially more expensive than conventional ICE vehicles, including the ongoing cost of fueling them, the marketplace may speak volumes particularly to manufacturers.
Major auto manufacturers have spent billions retooling for EV manufacturing, but are beginning to express some concerns about the viability of the EV market.
Remember, you saw it here first, kind readers. The marketplace will out and all the finagling and adjusting by the government, EV touts, and manufacturing will not change it. People will do what then want, and when they realize that they are funding a vehicle that simply doesn’t cut it from a feature by feature comparison, plus it costs more to fuel it, the result will be a rethinking of the entire EV project.
Just remember, wishing doesn’t make it so.
JVH
