To EV, or not to EV

To EV or not to EV, that is the question. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech. I'm Megan McCarty-Korino.

The push for electric vehicle adoption got a bit more uncertain with the election of Donald Trump. While reports of EV death have been greatly exaggerated, sales growth has slowed and car makers have pulled back on aggressive targets.

I'm sorry to report, I may be part of the trend. I recently sold my beloved 2019 Volkswagen Eagle, which had 120 miles of range, and after a lot of agonizing, decided not to get another EV just yet.

But what will Jack think? Jack Stewart is my former Marketplace colleague and longtime reporter on all things tech and transportation. He convinced me to buy the car back in 2019, so we brought him back on to weigh in. Jack, are you disappointed in me?

Absolutely not. I mean, I'm really interested to learn about how you're going to make this decision. And what's really interesting to me is we're at this crux point now. The early wisdom about EVs was always once they reached price parity with gas cars. And once the range got above around 200 miles, especially above 300 miles.

Consumers would just flock to them. This $35,000 price point was always cited. That was what Elon Musk used as his target for the Model 3 when that was first announced. Now with the tax credit, especially, you can get several really good EVs for that price with great ranges. And yet we're seeing this kind of this flux, I feel like, in consumer demand. So, I mean, tell me why.

I was when I bought the car and I would say for the first few years, super enthusiastic about it. I love how, you know, pure electric vehicles drive and I really, really thought carefully about getting into a new EVM or modern EV, you know, with better tech, with faster charging, with a bigger battery, with a longer range.

Ultimately, there were two big things that held me back. Let's talk about the first one. That is concerns about public charging. I try to go to these chargers invariably in the last couple of years.

There will be a car parked at it that's not an EV. There will be, you know, a number of people parked waiting to use the charger. Often the charger will be broken. This was a big deal for me because

I didn't have charging at home for a long time because I'm a renter, which is number two. So the public charging thing, I think this is a big topic, right?

I mean, I think a couple of thoughts. Southern California, of course, is one of the places where EVs have been most widely adopted, so perhaps a victim of its own success. But yes, unless we get the charging infrastructure built out and people have confidence in it, then it's going to be really hard to convince people to change their habits, to reduce the level of convenience they feel they have from gas cars.

And it's been a major push of the Biden administration. The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law allocated $5 billion to build charging stations along highway corridors. And as of those, as of this summer, only eight of those have actually been built.

apparently because the permitting process for those which vary state by state and especially across state lines, I can imagine is a nightmare. The Biden administration, the White House also says that they wanted to take their time and get this right. And now the rollout is going to really speed up. But that is just not keeping pace with what consumers are demanding them by the sounds of it. We'll be right back.

You're listening to Marketplace Tech, I'm Megan McCarty-Korino. We're back with Jack Stewart, Transportation Technology and Sustainability Expert, and the man who convinced me to buy an electric vehicle. So in kind of the pickle that I find myself in, I have been considering some sort of secondary options, maybe some bridges between going full gas again. You know, what about hybrids? What about plug-in hybrids? Are those a good option?

It depends on whether you're going to plug it in. A plug-in hybrid works well for people who religiously plug it in every night. They only have small batteries compared even to your car, but they'll give you that sort of 10 or even 40 miles of all EV range for your first 40 miles of the day, and then you've always got the gas engine there as a backup.

The trouble is the evidence shows people don't really plug them in. And then you're just carrying around this hugely complex drive train with a gas engine and a motor and a big heavy battery that's like having people in the backseat the whole time. Yeah. And you're not actually using it. To my mind, they're a compromise. If you can find a very efficient gas car, you might actually be better doing that if you can't plug in regularly.

And what about just sort of the more traditional hybrids? At the time that I bought the EV, my hesitation about, you know, say a Prius or something like that in 2019 was just that I felt that they didn't drive very nicely. And they were kind of funky and there were a lot, you know, available that

We're kind of enthusiast cars, not that I'm a driving enthusiast, but I care about these things for unknown reasons. But I feel like there have been some advances in hybrid powertrains.

Yes, they certainly drive very nicely. You can get some hybrids where that sort of crossover between electric and the gas engine cutting in is almost imperceptible. There's certainly something that the manufacturers are looking towards as a bridging step. They seem to be something that consumers are much more comfortable with. So are they, you know, that sort of gateway drug to EVs?

It could also be consumers that comfort with them because they're getting them for a really good price because a lot of them do still qualify for various incentives and credits. And then they're not actually taking advantage of them by not plugging them in. So it's unclear exactly what's going on there, but it's worth going out and driving some, I think, and trying. I mean, what's your feeling? Why not just go for an EV, but one of the more modern ones in your car with a much longer range than you don't have to plug it in one third as often?

Partially, there are rational reasons. The limitation of not being able to install a level two charger at home feels like a big one with a car with a longer range. I also just honestly, I'm mad. I got to a point where I was so frustrated.

where I would have times when I can't make it to this doctor appointment in this car without relying on public charging. And I at this point refuse to do that. So I would take a ride share. I would pay, you know, $100 to take a ride share to and from an appointment because I had lost confidence in

my car to make it there. And I just felt like this car is a nice car. I like the car, but it does not have the full utility and convenience of a non EV. That's frustrating. It's really interesting. And I think it's something that environmentalists like me need to take on when we recognize you're responsible for having sort of recommended this to you. I think the point I'd really like to get across to people though is

Let's not lose track of the bigger picture here. Decarbonization is the most critical challenge, the planet, and all of our economies are facing. And we are seeing progress, you know, so transportation accounts for 28% of the US greenhouse gas emissions, road vehicles are a large part of that. We need to make a change. The danger is now that the narrative swings too far the other way. And we go from excitement about EVs to complete disillusion when people hear stories like this.

And they're not working for some people. The truth is maybe they're not for everybody and we need a mix of vehicle types in the future. For a lot of people, they are absolutely awesome though. So I think we're in this sort of like trough of disillusionment period. There was a huge amount of excitement. There was maybe too much hype. And at some point we'll plateau with what's realistic amongst expectations and amongst what consumers actually want. But I do think we'll get that.

That was Jack Stewart, former Marketplace reporter and current Associate Director of Sustainability and Social Impact at Edelman.

As I noted, the future of public policy to incentivize electric vehicle adoption in the U.S. is a bit up in the air. President-elect Donald Trump isn't known for his fondness for EVs, and he's widely expected to roll back at least some of the Biden administration's policies like tax credits and emissions standards.

Though the New York Times reported last week that the country's Big Three automakers are hoping to convince Trump to keep more stringent rules in place because they've already made such big investments to meet them. Meanwhile, Trump ally Elon Musk has reportedly backed cutting tax credits for EVs, which currently take up to $7,500 off the sticker price of an electric car.

The position may seem counterintuitive for the CEO of Tesla, but the tax credits help boost its competitors more because unlike pretty much every other car company, Tesla actually makes a profit on its electric vehicles thanks to its long head start and deficient manufacturing.

I also have to report that since we recorded this conversation with Jack, I did buy a new car, well a used car actually. I traded my Volkswagen eGolf for a Volkswagen gas golf. What can I say? I love a golf. Though I'm really just biting my time until Rivian releases its R3 EV in 2027, because it looks like the cutest futuristic 1970s golf.

If I can get myself a better home charging situation by then, I'm in. Rosie Hughes produced this episode. I'm Megan McCarty-Korino, and that's Marketplace Tech. This is APM.