Why Tesla Doesn't & Others Are So Bad At Advertising

Tesla doesn't do traditional advertisement and the legacy brands that do advertise their electric cars are not very good at it. So, what gives? InsideEVs contributor Tom Moloughney is here to analyse some of the more popular ads of the last few years in his weekly segment "Plugged-in with Tom Moloughney"

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[teslacybertruck]

What I would like to see is one defining moment Ad by Tesla similar to Apple's 1984 Super Bowl Ad that would forever put fossil fuel vehicles in their place way behind the electric car movement in the general public's conscience.

[dansanger]

Unlike gas vehicles, most people are still unfamiliar with EVs and are scared away by the prospect of wasting their money on something that won't fulfill their needs. I still think basic education and reassurance needs to be done. I'd like to see some day-in-the-life videos featuring a couple with one gas car and one EV. You could highlight the advantage of home charging by the ICE driver being late for a meeting, not having time to get gas, and asking to borrow the other's EV. The EV owner could be shown filling up the gas car and being shocked at the price. Another ad could show them taking both cars on a road trip for some reason, and show that the EV driver can keep up because of fast charging during normal meal and bathroom stops.

[jacksonbangs]

Tesla advertises by word of mouth. The YouTube channels like Now You Know, Like Tesla, and Teslanomics are advocating for Tesla.

[ronalaska]

People are stupid! I drive an EV, they see me driving it every day but they still say the same myths to me and don’t believe me!

[vermork]

TBH I find 98% of car advertising to be lame.
Most advertisements are more or less saying “you are insecure, lacking self esteem, a bit ugly, weak person. Buy our product to fix your problem. “
And pick up truck advertisement are at the extreme end of the bell curve.

[NeilBergman]

The upfront cost is too high. I think that's the main reason electric vehicles don't sell better.


Look, people are more aware of electric vehicles now than they ever have been. I also agree that most people still have a LOT of misconceptions about electric vehicles (range anxiety, lack of charging stations and options, cost of charging, perceived lackluster performance, lack of utility, etc.) and some well made commercials could do a lot to ally those misconceptions, but I believe the main reason that Tesla, and other manufacturers, are not selling a lot more electric vehicles than they do is that they just cost too much money for the average car buyer.


I watched a video a couple of days ago that compared the five year overall cost of ownership of a Standard Range Plus Tesla Model 3 with a Toyota Camry. At the end of the five year year period, the Tesla Model 3 turned out to be a lot less expensive to own -- assuming you sold the Model 3 at the end of the five years and were able to get the expected selling price. I thought that was really compelling and I shared the video with my brother, who really likes Teslas but does not own one (my wife and I own a Long Range RWD Model 3). My brother pointed out a very important fact that I frankly had not seriously thought about. While the cost of ownership of the Model 3 at the end of the five years may be a lot less than the Toyota Camry, that's not what is going to motivate most people. Instead, most people make their purchase/no purchase decision based on how much it's going to cost them per month for the car payment to purchase the vehicle (or lease it).


Let's assume you were able to purchase a Toyota Camry for $25, 000 (before taxes), were putting no money down, and had no trade-in. Also, let's assume you are able to finance the loan for 60 months at 1.9%. Your monthly car payment would be $437. That's a lot of money.


Now let's assume you were able to purchase a Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus for $38, 900 (before taxes and incentives, which, for Tesla vehicles, will soon be gone anyway) and again were putting no money down and had no trade in. Again, let's assume you were able to finance the loan for 60 months at 1.9%. Your monthly payment would be $680 per month. That's almost $700 dollars a month for just a car payment, not counting auto insurance costs which would be substantially more for the Tesla than it would be for the Camry because of its higher purchase price. That's $243 extra per month just for the car payment. And that, my brother pointed out, is why he -- and most car buyers -- have not purchased an electric vehicle.


Many people would have a difficult time even making a $437 per month car payment, but raise that car payment up to $680 and you have now put the car out of reach of the majority of car buyers.


Now granted, there are other electric vehicle options out there besides Tesla. I think when you look at features, range, and "bang for you buck, " Tesla has the others beat hands down, but even the less expensive electric vehicles can't compete with most ICE vehicles like the Camry on purchase price.


So yes, some really well made advertising could certainly help to overcome the misconceptions that many car buyers have about electric vehicle ownership, but as long as the up front purchase price for electric vehicles remains substantially higher than most of the best selling ICE cars, I think the overall number of electric vehicles sold as a percentage of total vehicle sales is going to remain sadly low.

[trevormccaughrean]

With the ev manufacturers unable or unwilling to meet current demand and limiting the availability of their products for consumers to physically see their cars prevents the general public to warm up to and accept ev's.
Until ev makers meet these points heavy advertising would be a waste of resources, the people who are willing to purchase ev's in the current state of the market are those who will by them for the vehicle's merits inspite of the automakers current issues.

[adamselene]

The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) is a line of home/personal computers produced starting in 1977 by Commodore International.[3] A top-seller in the Canadian and United States educational markets, it was the first personal computer sold to the public [1][4] and formed the basis for their entire 8-bit product line, including the Commodore 64. The first model, which was named the PET 2001, was presented to the public at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in 1977.

[brucec]

While shooting the Roadster into space was great PR, it was not the primary purpose. When a new rocket design is first launched, a dummy payload of appropriate weight is used so instead of a boring cylindrical weight, they used a roadster.

[torchlord]

Only issue with the BMW commercial is that the kid was able to steel the car without his dad knowing. It probably would better if the dad that got notified that the car is back also got notified that the car was taken in the first place.

[takanara]

Ugh, the polar bear ad annoys me because no sane human would ever try to hug a polar bear, lmao. Polar bears love eating humans. they have like zero fear of us the way other bears do.

[kyliefan]

How about a mainstream commercial for a mainstream EV where they don’t assume you know everything about the car? If they drone in your head what an EV is maybe it will work eventually....

[nighthawk]

Windows removed the popular paint program and replaced it with the unpopular paint 3D to force people to change their preferences and move the innovations of that program forward. The majority of people stubbornly against EVs are going to need the same kind of thing happen to their cars. If they are forced to pay an arm and a leg for gas and an arm and a leg for repairs, many of those stubborn opposers will reluctantly switch to being an EV driver.

[brianwaines]

You say advertisers should find out why people don't buy EV's and target those reasons. But you already know the biggest reason people don't buy them. When you want to go long distances, and you don't want to take twice as long because there are only level 2 chargers that work for you. If they want to sell EV's, they need to target that problem, and then advertise the solution.

[nroose]

Kinda great that Tom said "advercating" at around 22:45!

[barrettmjohnson]

When E-cars Price come down they will take off, no amount of advertisements is going to make people spend more then there car budget. It's like when hand held calculators first came out cost $100. That now you can at a dollar store! Lol. When you want the New technology you're going to pay for it. Once the cars can be had for near the cost of gas cars they will sale like crazy. I will replace my gas car in 2021 and if a SUV can be had under $30k I'll get one . That my budget and no matter how awesome they are it won't happen. The people who have money that drive BMW are in the market now the rest of us will have to wait! Could a used Audi e-tron be had in 2021 for that I'd wouldn't think so as there not that many being sold. I wonder how long people will hang on to there E-cars before trading them in?

[pinkelephants]

Actually Tesla does do conventional advertising but infrequently & online only at this point in time. Tesla's Ad's are very slick, professional and fun. They're on Tesla's website and YouTube.

[caonabo]

The problem is not the advertising or the lack of it.

The main obstacle for widespread adoption of EVs are:
1- High initial price
2- Long time to recharge
3- Reduced range, compared to ICE cars

[vtrippin]

One point I've never heard anyone say (aside from me) about why EVs, and, Tesla really, will be the winner over gas. Is the youth. Everywhere I go, it's not the middle aged or older that really take notice to my M3. It's the kids. I was at my daughter's open house for school today and I couldn't count how many kids were lookin, freakin out "it's a Tesla, it's a Tesla. I love your car man!" You don't get that from middle aged people and beyond. And I'm one of them BTW. I'm 40. Sure they like the way it looks and stare a sec and say that's a nice looking car. But the way the kids look at it, and actually damn near fully understand everything about it, is Amazing! And that's why electric will beat gas to the grass.

[torchlord]

All traditional car manufacturers have to do is follow Tesla Times News idea of having the dealers give out loaner electric cars to people that are getting their ICE vehicle fixed then put a charger at their dealership that is free to charge for those people.