I am so very tired of the clickbait “news” headlines, like this one: “Car dealers in N.J. are ready to sell more electric vehicles. There’s just no demand.“
IN THE ARTICLE, THESE THINGS ARE STATED:
1) “…the 83 cars he sold throughout February, only 9 of them were electric or hybrid.”
That’s 10.8% off all vehicles he sold! (as a side note: 35% of my sales, in Texas, were EV/PHEV back during 2014-2019)
2) “Statewide figures show EVs made up 11% of car sales in 2023 — up from a mere 1.4% in 2019”
Not only are they saying EVs are currently 11% of sales, the increase from 2019 to 2023 shows the rate of EV adoption is increasing at 65% per year!
3) The first dealer quoted in the article is a Hyundai dealer. Hyundai EVs do not qualify for the Federal Income Tax Credit of up to $7,500…and yet they’re still 11% of that dealer’s sales!
4) “…more than half of New Jerseyans surveyed in a poll … say they aren’t likely to buy an electric vehicle, the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University said in February. The objection, the poll said, was largely due to the expense of EVs but also stemmed from disinformation surrounding making the switch.“
Disinformation, just like this “news” article!
5) “‘I think it’s fair to say that the early adopters have adopted and now it’s tougher sledding. Getting consumers — who are curious and interested in buying an EV — over the hump,’ Jim Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, or NJCAR, said in an interview.”
Yeah, it’s called selling and you have to have the answers your potential buyers need.
6) “Dealers want to sell what consumers want to buy … They’re heavily invested in the EV transformation but they don’t see consumers yet embracing EVs anywhere near the numbers that government mandates reflect.”
New Jersey starts limiting the number of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles that can be sold, starting in 2027, with a goal of eliminating new ICE sales by 2035. The current increases in EV sales would actually hit the goal in 2028, through the free market. Of course, adoption can slow down or increase over time. That being said, the rate of annual adoption rate increase would have to DROP from the previously mentioned 65% to only 30% (well below the current national average) to keep ICE sales going until 2035.
7) There’s a chart in the article (created by the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers), that’s supposed to make you think EV adoption isn’t increasing dramatically year-over-year. But not only is EV adoption increasing 65% year-over-year, as stated before, the totals do NOT include Tesla vehicles. TESLA IS THE #1 SELLER OF EVS IN THE U.S., BY A HUGE MARGIN. The chart can be found here: https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/2t2MW/2/ Hover your cursor over the orange EV bars to see how dramatically sales are increasing.
8) “Atlas Public Policy, reports that the state had 123,774 registered electric vehicles as of June 2023. That’s still a far cry from benchmarks laid out by Murphy, including having 330,000 registered EVs in New Jersey by 2025.”
At the current adoption rate, New Jersey would have 336,974 EVs registered in 2025. That’s 102% of the stated goal, not a “far cry” away from the goal!
