What Happened to Electric Vehicle Sales?

Sales growth of electric vehicles has slowed dramatically this year. Tesla delivered 20% fewer cars in the first quarter of 2024 than in the prior quarter, and BYD who was previously the world’s biggest EV maker saw sales decline more than 40% over the same period.
BYD’s EV sales were still up 13% when compared to the same quarter a year earlier, while Tesla’s sales were down 9%. Both companies have been slashing prices to stimulate demand.
While EV sales overall are still rising, they are rising at a slower rate than before. On top of that, the space has become more competitive as legacy automakers have introduced new EVs, and Chinese manufacturers have ramped up exports, overtaking Japan as the world's biggest vehicle exporter last year.
Apple, who spent a decade and ten billion dollars on research, decided in February to end their efforts to build an electric car. The Apple car would have likely cost over $100 thousand dollars and would have had lower profit margins than their core consumer electronics business. Apple’s stock price rose on the announcement that they were abandoning their EV project.

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[bernadmanny]

We all know that an Apple EV would have required a proprietary adapter.

[randomanon]

California demanding that everyone go out and get an EV a week before they told everyone to stop charging their EVs pretty much sums up my concerns.

[abes.]

a rental car clerk advised me against renting an electric car when me and my family went to Orlando Florida las year. He said if you take an electric, you won't enjoy your vacation. Trust me, go with the regular car, he said.

[jabberwockytdi]

The crazy thing is subsidies are largely going to people who are pretty well off to buy mostly luxury EV's, on top of that a large proportion are being bought by companies for the tax breaks - when those cars hit the used market there are often no takers.

[dominikmuller]

to be fair, literally everything "has a lower profit margin than Apple consumer electronics"

[Herfinnur]

My sister just drove in a rented EV from Paris to us in Tyrol, Austria. The charging network is an unnecessarily complicated clusterfuck of apps and standards. It's put all of us off of getting an EV

[kimbye]

As a Norwegian that has owned 3 ev's, and a hybrid and my current car is an ev. I think what you are saying makes a lot of sense. Our nabouring countries are adopting ev's at a faster pace now, so it's easier to drive long distances, but the charging issue is what everyone finds frustrating. Another point about the charging is lack of roadsigns and you have to have several apps, instead of bein able to pay by card or cash. I've been in a situation with low battery on my phone and poor cell service and trying to download yet another charging app in the rain, it gets your blood boiling..
There are also positives worth mentioning, especially if you live by a big freeway or in a town center, the airpolution has gone down considereably in the last years, it's noticable and that's a big pluss in my book. Noise levels have also dropped.

[NFowerli]

Temperature extremes would be a huge problem where I live. Temps are between -35C and 30-40C where I live. The battery life would be shot so quickly. In Chicago which is pretty close to where I live, tons of cars were getting stranded because the batteries and chargers couldn’t handle the cold.

[ecocodex]

People: *barely have enough money for rent and groceries*

Economists: "Hey, why the slow down in buying a new car!?"

[jasoncrandall]

I drove Monaco to Paris last summer. 100% of the chargers were either broken or required some crazy app to make work. Most just had red Xs on them and didn’t work.

[Skywolf]

Doubt very many people will ever buy a second EV.
Maybe the shift should have been more hybrid focused rather than straight to full electric.

[ricardoblikman]

The only reason why people buy them in Europe is because EV's do not pay for road taxes and my government the Netherlands just stacks $100, 000 environment tax on a ford mustang or $35, 000 environment tax on a toyota GR86 and add 21% VAT in addition lol.

[luckylanno]

Looking back on it, it's not too shocking that rental EVs didn't work. When you go to a strange place, you won't know where the charging stations are, your hotel may not have chargers, and obviously you won't have a access to a home charging system. There's too many unknowns to be comfortable with. EVs really only work if you have a routine that includes charging stations, or you don't have to drive that much.

[martinr]

i live in germany and our companies have made great cars, but since a decade or so, quality has been going down rapidly.
Not because of lack of skill, but because of the fact that the whole automobile industry builds cars on a timer - they are made to break down by design. obviously to avoid market saturation and keep the business model alive - they even say they target "the aftermarket" more than sales, which means they make their money by replacing parts that were made to break down.
This design philosophy is built in the EVs too and that is what makes them so expensive. It is also practically the exact opposite of what is being claimed about environmental aspects.

The best thing for the environment would be to buy cheap old cars, actually repair them and drive them until they are dead - Instead we are shipping them to Africa and let children scavenge the metals.

The hypocrisy of western Elites is on par with their disconnection to reality.

[couchmayne]

You and Brian from Clearvalue taxes are literally the only 2 people I watch, I remember when people would call you boring when you were at 30k subs, now your literally catching half a million views in less then a week, proud to see you grow Patrick thank you for the direct and no BS straight forward information.

[garypadiham]

I'm 65 and work from home. The only driving I do all week is a 3 mile round trip to the supermarket. It is not worth spending 50, 000 plus on an EV for my weekly mileage. In the UK in 2035 16.9 million people will be retired. 25-30% of the adult population will be retired. Yet the government wants them to own EVs when they do little more than the weekly shopping trip. To me it does not make sense.

[shmehfleh]

The problem is most new EVs are luxury cars, SUVs or both. Who gives a damn if an EV maker slashes the cost of their new car from $60, 000 to $50, 000 when most car buyers can't afford that EV at either price?

[lolilollolilol]

The fact that there is no way of knowing the state of the battery of a used EV is almost a showstopper.

[undecidedmiddleground]

I run a Leaf for in-town commuting and a big QX80 for long trips. It's a perfect combination for my family of 5 where we typically have only 4 in a car at any one time. My wife and I figure out who's driving further the night before, and that person will take the Leaf. We've saved the monthly cost of the Leaf in fuel (QX80=premium @ ~14-15mpg in the city) and we charge in our home garage overnight. This has been perfect for the first 4+ years and 54k miles...

Until, I took the Leaf on a shortish 180 mile round trip for work. I was able to do what I needed to do, but had to stop for about 30 minutes and eat lunch while charging on my way home. The charging kept stopping and I'd have to disconnect then restart time and again. I charged enough (~30% to ~75%) at a level 3 DC fast charge to make it home. The next morning, the car refused to go into drive or charge over 70% with a "Service EV system" message.
Now, the car's at Nissan with a bad traction battery pack and replacement units are 6-12 _months_!! out. If this could be fixed in a timely manner, I wouldn't complain, there are often teething issues for early adopters, but Nissan's flat refusal to address the battery failure and repair issues is unacceptable. I get that the trade war with China is constricting the rare-Earth metals for batteries, but servicing existing customers absolutely needs to take priority over building more new cars that will sit on the lot for months.

[posteroonie]

10:00 The slowdown in EV sales is due to the lack of the fake wood option as a colorway. If it was a good idea in the 60's and 70's, it's a good idea today.