Just last week there ws an article saying ev sales have hit the wall with inventory on lots building. What are we supposed to believe? Nothing, it seems.
It depends quite a bit on what part of the country is being talked about. What I find more interesting is the situation in China which for various reasons is actually ahead of us when it comes to the adoption of electric vehicles.
They were really pushing EVs starting about ten years ago... so now what they have a problem with a massive number of outmoded abandoned electric vehicles with batteries that have gone bad and cannot be economically replaced.
It is similar to what is happening with older Teslas and other older models of electric vehicles. By the time the batteries go bad the vehicles no longer have enough value to bother replacing them.
I once got ripped off when I bought an old Dodge truck that had bad rod and main bearings in the engine. By various means the previous owner had hidden this “defect” from me. But the next day I bought new rod and main bearings for it at the auto parts store for about $75. Jacked the pickup up, pulled the oil pan, polished the residue from the wrecked bearings off the crankshaft with strips of emery cloth slid the new bearings in place, torqued them down, replaced a few seals, and put it all back together. $75 and 8 hours farting around under the pickup and it was back on the road. I thought that the crankshaft was probably out of specs enough that the repair wouldn't last long, but 20 years and 75,000 miles later it still had no problems with engine knock or maintaining oil pressure.
Because of automation and design it takes just 10 man hours to assemble a Tesla at the factory. The problem is that the most expensive part is the battery and it is not user serviceable. When it has reached the end of its life in about 10 years the car has no more useability. And there is not much if any demand for a bunch of used Tesla parts. It is all about the battery, when it is toast, your car is toast. It is a hidden expense that advocates avoid talking about.
Ten year old gas or diesel or even hybrid vehicles typically maintain a lot of value these days. Electric vehicle value basically depreciates to nothing over ten years. People who are used to purchasing older cars often do not realize how little functional value is left in an older electric vehicle. They assume that if it still looks good; they can be refurbished for a reasonable amount of money. So used Teslas like the one Cronos bought from little old lady in Poland who used it only to go to mass in Warsaw once a week still can command a decent amount of money. But once consumers start realizing that they have a real problem when the battery is no longer functional... used EVs will have an even higher depreciation rate than they do currently... which now averages 50% in just 3 years.
The other issue with EV batteries is that their condition can be difficult to assess. How long they last has a lot to do with their usage pattern. Lithium based batteries should not be charged to 100% and left that way. This will quickly ruin the battery. If you over discharge the battery it can be devastating as well. For maximum life they should not be charged to more than 80% and discharged to less than 20%. They should be stored at 40% to 50% charge. The batteries ideally should be stored at around 50F. The cells should not be charged if they have been allowed to reach very cold temperatures especially if they have been run down to 20% or less until they are heated back up. Teslas and others have a heating circuit for this, but it can take a long time on a charger to heat up a 1200 to 1700 pound battery.
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2023-china-ev-graveyards/