You're not getting it. Yes.... 99% of people drive less than 50 miles a day. Thank you Captain Obvious.
It's not about what I drive daily. It's about having the FREEDOM to drive FAR whenever the fuck I want to, even if it's once a year or once every 5 years. Seriously. It's about whether I'm LIMITED or NOT. On occasion, my family likes to go on a road trip. I dare suggest it's QUITE COMMON for most American families to do that ON OCCASION. With an EV, the equation.... the planning.... the ability.... to do that changes significantly. It's a WHOLE different ball game.
Again... it doesn't fucking matter what we do DAILY. Your logic, equally applied to firearms, would be equally SILLY. Hey... most SD encounters, ON AVERAGE, involve less than 3 shots, at less than 3 yards. So... it "makes sense" that guns be limited to 3 shots with ammo that peters out after 3 yards. The "average shooter" doesn't NEED more than that, eh?
And to buy TWO cars.... one for commuting and one for distance driving is just dumb, too. And no... I'm not going to buy a "commuter" EV and then rent an ICE car for road trips, either.
Again, you seem to be insisting that EVs will either be mandated or that the market will inevitably CHOOSE EVs. You're dreamin' and have lost common sense in terms of the American culture. We are NOT Europeans. We don't live like them. We don't think like them. We are NOT a "collective" type of culture. We not only don't like public transportation... we largely REJECT it. We are cowboys who want to saddle up and ride off on adventures whenever the mood strikes. We do NOT like to be told when, where, or how we do ANYthing.
EVs are here to stay as a NICHE product. And for those who want / like them... Enjoy! ICE cars are also here to stay for a very VERY long time. My ICE car has virtually NO limitations. An EV? Yep.... limitations. And even if those limitations would not be in play 99% of the days I drive... IT. DOESN'T. MATTER. I don't want limitations of ANY kind at ANY time. And I can promise you that the vast majority of Americans feel exactly the same way. And the market reflects that as we speak.
EVs are "SO GREAT," that a BIG factor in sales is that the gov't DUBIOUSLY incentivized it with tax credits. Take those credits away and what happens??? You're a smart feller, so you know. We're seeing it right now. If the product was inherently superior, it would not have to be incentivized.
My point is you are an anomaly. Or soon will be. The mass market in the US is lagging but it will follow the rest of the world to EVs.
There was a huge marketing push by carmakers in the 50's and 60s about having a second, smaller car for the dutiful wife to drive around town. It worked. Most families had one car. Then they didnt. I don't know any married couple or co-habitators with one car. Not one. Of the 8-9 people I know who own a Tesla, three own two. The rest have an ICE car or truck as their other vehicle.
Most of the people who buy cars never lift the hood or give a shit what's under there. The average schlub and schlubette are going to respond to the marketing that will be showered upon us when the established car companies get their act together and build EVs designed from the ground up to be EVs, not heavy, clunky gas and diesel burners bolted on a roller skate full of batteries. More like BYD and Tesla, less like the Ford Lightning F150.
The reason the big auto makers are sending mixed messages about their commitment to EVs is because they haven't figured out how to make them cheap enough to be competitive. So in the short ter... EVs bad, ICE good is their mantra. An ICE car factory and manufacturing process is vastly different from EVs. The CEO of Ford recently admitted this. he said they need to change the way build cars in order to be competitive.
Automakers will end up cannibalizing their own market for ICE cars. Trade in your old Ford for a new electric Ford. They arent ready. When they are, this is exactly what they will do.
An acquaintance of mine in WA owns two Teslas. He drives one, his wife the other. They spend half the year in Thailand, where he drives a Chinese BYD,. the main competitor to Tesla outside the US. He tells me both cars are excellent and relatively maintenance free other than normal wear items like tires. He will never buy a gas burner again. This guy owns his own manufacturing company and grew that business himself. He's no dummy and not the type who buys shit because it's fashionable.
The public will buy the story about EVs being clean, quiet and cheaper to run. You never have to pump gas again by itself will motivate millions of buyers. NOTE: I don't want to seem mysogenistic, but my observation is when women are dressed up for work, a date or some other event, they hate pumping gas. Do your own survey on that. The truth is, If I'm dressed for a meeting I dont want to pump gas either. I don't want any drips landing on my Bruno Magli's.
You have made it clear you will never buy one. As a refusenik, you will become the outlier among friends and neighbors who drank the EV kool-aid.
