Volkswagen ID Forum banner

EV Demand Growth Is Slowing [says one analyst]

2.1K views 16 replies 14 participants last post by  BlueDH  
#1 ·
For the US.

I kind of expected this. After the early adopters, it is a more difficult sell, particulary for potential customers having fewer charging options/opportunities.

 
#5 ·
Yeah, in my admittedly small sampling of my dealer, they’ve sold an over dozen of their ID.4s in the past two weeks. The ID.4 population has dropped from 65 to 49. They also have 46 Atlas, 30 Jetta, 23 Tiguan, 10 Taos. So, not seeing this… in fact, there was a slowdown for a while, but now sales are picking up. Could it have to do with this?
 
#8 ·
There are too many well-informed, cautious shoppers out there.

With EV tech evolving faster than an 72-month payment period, there's lots of "upcoming" EVs to think about: upcoming lower priced EVs, newer tech EVs, longer range EVs, different form factor EVs, NACS-port equipped EVs, upcoming DCFC improvements, and of course interest rates to put ice on everything.

But market research continues to indicate a strong interest in EVs. I've been hearing stats in the 40% range of buyers who want to purchase an EV -- it doesn't mean they're going to tomorrow, but that they're looking for the right one and / or the right price. With only 2% market penetration currently, there are plenty of buyers to sell EVs to.

It seems from sales data demand continues to accelerate, but just not increasing as rapidly as forecast. There has been no visible retraction in EV demand. Any uncertainty we're seeing currently is just transitory, waiting for other factors or consumer comfort to catch up.
 
#13 ·
With EV tech evolving faster than an 72-month payment period, there's lots of "upcoming" EVs to think about: upcoming lower priced EVs, newer tech EVs, longer range EVs, different form factor EVs, NACS-port equipped EVs, upcoming DCFC improvements, and of course interest rates to put ice on everything.
A whole lotta this! I know several people that had ID4's on order that postponed their purchases due to analysis-paralysis regarding all of the announcements on emerging tech. Personally I have one foot in that camp as I purchased my car knowing that things were changing rapidly and that I may have purchased a Betamax. But I will not buy a second EV until things shake out, particularly around battery technology. The batteries are currently the weak link but given the amount of research money being thrown at the problem (cheaper, higher density, etc.) I have to believe that it will be solved within the next 5 years.
 
#9 ·
Given enough time, good EVs will hit the used market at reasonable prices and open up EV ownership possibilities for a whole new segment of consumer. In fact I generally recommend someone go with a cheaper used EV as a first EV since it can be such a big transition. I did just that 8 years ago with a $9k Nissan Leaf. Recently with the market all jacked up used EV prices were unreasonable.

But once that foot is in the door and you realize that (other than long trips, for now) EVs are MORE convenient than gas cars and are WAY cheaper to fuel (despite recent obvious FUD) many get hooked for life. And that means zero future ICE sales, one consumer at a time.

I also suspect that at some time in the future there will be a perfect storm of abundant cheap EV availability, finally adequate charging infrastructure, and some global issue that drives up gas prices which will be the final death knell for ICE car demand. The only question is when will that happen and what automakers will be completely caught off guard and die as a result.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I think US is entering a recession toward end of the year, with consumers already pulling back on durable goods purchases. All vehicle sales will drop to a crawl. It could pick up sometime in 2024.

Eventually we need some sort of technological breakthrough for batteries to get close to 100% EV adoption. With current technology, Europe and China will keep growing, but US will probably level out around 50%.
 
#11 · (Edited)
I thought EV demand was slowing back in the fall of 2022 but the Tesla price cuts (and other manufacturer's incentives) have worked to boost sales while I argue non-fleet ICE trucks and large SUV demand has plummeted. 68% YoY growth.

 
#14 ·
Thing is, re: the Sony analogy, is the car (like a VCR) will do the job is intended to do for a finite period of time, but once it's gone, maybe there'll be a plug connection to charge it, but that's it.

With Beta, the owner was potentially left with a collection of cassettes recorded in a non-adaptable format.

J1772 + CCS is ubiquitous enough and cross-compatible enough that nobody ought to be worried about owning one, and after 5 or 10 years of ownership, there's not much to do to switch to whatever happens to be the flavor of the day.
 
#17 ·
The plethora of ID4s can also be attributed to the supply chain that has probably somewhat caught up. Now it’s time for VW to stock-up their supply of replacement modules for existing recalled vehicles and speed up training and successful recall procedures.
VW should start making the ID-Buzz and introduce an ID3 GTX to NA.
In no particular hurry to get anywhere, even the 3.1 update 😉.