Chevy Bolt EV and Bolt EUV production is ending this year

It also doesn't help that many U.S manufacturers opt into building Trucks and SUVs to avoid emission regulations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN7mSXMruEo

I'd have to pay $10-15k more money to get a smaller car that wouldn't fit my young family loaded up for a 2 night trip at my sisters. We'd have to stop at the one charger available in a 2 hour radius off our route, and still would risk getting stranded due to range issues if driving during the winter. We make these trips monthly.

It's not elitism, it's that people have economic constraints, the electrics cars in the marketplace are at a cost differential that equates to a year of college, and have huge real world disadvantages compared to lower cost alternatives.

So you're probably right that what's left is mostly people participating in a cultural trend. You're just wrong that people are refusing to solve the problem through electric cars, since electric cars don't solve the problem. People are acting reasonably in response to that, there's no inconsistency or hypocrisy in it.

- quieter - charge at home / no gas station - quicker and smoother acceleration and handling - less components (less breakdowns ... in theory) - cheaper maintenance - cheaper operation (electricity SHOULD be cheaper than gas) - one pedal driving - no air pollution - will be cheaper than ICE at initial cost very soon, and will eventually be much cheaper.

The downsides are long distance range + recharging times for those trips

The point is that EVs aren't primarily an environmental cause. For your typical american it will be a simple selfish rational choice. I would guess in about five years this will be the choice for the new car buyer:

- buy an electric car for $25000 - $30000 that will cost $2000 / yr between recharging and maintenance, and has resale value

- buy an ICE for $40000 that will cost $4000 / yr between gas and maintenance, but those two long trips you take a year will be a half hour faster. Oh, and its resale value is basically nothing since ICE is being phased out.

These are rational economic decisions, by the standards of what the "science" of Economics thinks is "rational" (generally speaking: think short term and only about yourself).

Now, the used EV market is a bit thin now, but that is changing rapidly. The only thing that changes the calculus is the battery replacement and the fact that used buyers aren't resale/tradein focused.

Consider how new cars are financed (and BOY are they financed these days, with 7-10 year loans!). And this goes to a lot of my thinking on how EVs and alt energy are going to inflict a shrinking economies of lessening scale on the oil and ICE industries: why would a bank finance an oil exploration/development project on the scale of 10-20 years right now?

Soon, why would a bank finance a 7-10 year loan on an ICE? A core part of that loan is the value of a car, but if the innovation rate and adoption rate of EVs is as rapid as it is (I think it will get faster once 5-10 big automakers really get cranking), the value of an ICE car bought new looks to depreciate EVEN FASTER than it normally does.

I would argue that the 7-year value of a newly purchased ICE today is half or less of what it conventionally is viewed as (and ICE cars are now much more reliable than even 10 years ago, which underpins a lot of the 7-10 year loans).

Have the banks caught on to this? probably not, they need to encounter some "rude awakenings".

Finally, consider how much industry focuses your choice. Do you think the car companies are going to EV strictly because it is "trendy" and that regulatory agencies are forcing it?

No. They are going because of economic realities.

Tesla is allegedly at 33% margin on its cars, and the cost projections for its most expensive components (the batteries) is down. Way down. Probably will drop by half in just a couple years with LFP / Sodium Ion advances, and whatever comes out of Solid State / Sulfur / whatever CATL is doing.

A car company today has a choice: keep making ICE cars that 5-10 years will cost $10000 MORE than an EV, or make the EV transition. (again, per above, an EV is a fundamentally superior vehicle for consumers in most ways).

The investors in auto companies know this. BMW, VW and other CEOs have been fired recently because they have squandered or failed to start the EV transition. The investors know that BEVs will cause apocalyptic disruption to automakers, and you are a dead man standing if you don't have a BEV engineering team spun up yesterday.

Slap a Toyota or maybe Honda badge on the grill and the Bolt/Volt would have flown off the shelves.

Given the current supply constraints, high volume low margin models don’t make a ton of business sense, unfortunately.

The Mustang is 1 inch longer and wider than the Model 3.

Nobody wants to sell small EVs in America, apparently.

The biggest threat to their bottom line is economy cars. If somebody buys an economy car who could possibly spend another $20,000 that is a lost opportunity that won’t come back for 5 of 10 years in many cases.

Last time i bought a Fit I wanted a new one but had to get a used because they had no Fits because the ‘factory washed out in a flood' but they had 50 HR-Vs lined up that nobody had bought yet that came from the same factory.

The automotive press repeats that line that Americans only want to buy huge cars like the people in The Manchurian Candidate but the fact is everyday somebody goes into a car dealership and gets pressured to buy something bigger than they wanted initially.