EV Sales Absolutely Bomb in Heartland America Region, Sending Big Message to Biden Admin
Despite the Biden administration’s bizarrely intense push for average Americans to purchase electric vehicles, in certain states, it seems the administration’s efforts are in vain.
According to a report in The Blade of Toledo, Ohio, electric vehicles have failed to gain much of a foothold in northwest Ohio, selling just 1,136 vehicles in 2023, despite the tax credits that the government has been implementing to persuade more folks to purchase an EV.
Consumers have plenty of legitimate concerns regarding electric vehicles, according to The Blade. The first, and probably most important, is “range anxiety,” or, the fear that an EV will run out of juice in the middle of nowhere with no charging station nearby.
The average range of an EV is about 250 miles, which, according to local car dealership owner Richard Cronin, “is not enough to prevent drivers from having to recharge on the road during long trips or reduce anxiety that the EVs may run out of juice and leave drivers stranded.” That fear, Cronin said, is only compounded in northern regions like Ohio, where the freezing temperatures can drastically reduce the car’s battery range.
Just as important is the issue of price. There’s a reason you’ll see far more Teslas in wealthy areas on America’s coasts, as opposed to rural areas in America’s heartland: EVs are expensive. Ivan Drury, director of Insights at the automobile sales site Edmunds.com, told The Blade the average price of a new Tesla is $64,630. Even with the government’s $7,500 tax credit, that’s still much more than the average new car, which is below $50,000.
There are plenty more reasons putting the average consumer off from EVs, like the lack of widespread charging stations or confusion regarding the government tax subsidies, but these are probably the two most significant reasons for why EVs are failing to gain a foothold in Ohio and elsewhere.
In fact, EVs make up just seven-tenths of one percent of the 428,433 cars registered last year in the northwest part state, the Blade reported.
Still, it’s worth noting that Northwestern Ohio is pretty densely populated, and is in close proximity to the Detroit area. Ohio is, however, a red state, which might play a role in the unpopularity of EVs.
But none of that is going to stop the government from trying to force them down our throats anyway.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal editorial board, the Environmental Protection Agency, at the behest of the Biden administration, has decreed, through a new limit on tailpipe emissions, that two-thirds of all cars should be electric by 2032.
Even though the EPA has insisted that it’s not an actual mandate, the Journal editors wrote, “the only way auto makers could meet the emissions restrictions is by producing more EVs and fewer gas-powered cars. This is a mandate in everything but name, and it’s already causing enormous problems.”
Perhaps one day gas cars will slowly go the way of the horse-drawn carriage in favor of the electric car, but such things happen organically, as new technology improves and people begin to see for themselves the benefits (if there are any) of abandoning their old ways and adopting the new.
Imagine if, when the car was first introduced at the end of the 19th century, when it was still slow, clunky, exorbitantly expensive, and impractical as anything other than a status symbol, the government mandated everyone had to own a car by an arbitrary date.
It’s doubtful the car would ever have become as widely used as it is now. People adopted the automobile so rapidly because they saw for themselves the benefits of owning one, and as the technology and manufacturing process improved, prices lowered to within the reach of the average consumer.
Regardless of the benefits of a certain thing, most people won’t want it if you try to force it on them.
Many people who own EVs love them (especially when gas prices rise exponentially), but it’s wrong for Biden’s EPA to try to force them on people.
EVs still have many real-world concerns inherent to the new technology. Unless those are adequately addressed, most people are not going to want to buy one.
As the citizens of Ohio have shown us, some places in America just don’t want electric cars, regardless of what the Biden administration claims.
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