Above, Automakers deliver new EV models amidst signs of new interest among price-conscious consumers.
Below, Bloomberg posting adds details.
Just weeks ago, the US electric car market looked moribund. Amid plummeting EV sales, dealers were offering discounts as Detroit automakers scrapped electric lineups to make more gas-guzzling SUVs.Then oil prices surged after the US and Israel attacked Iran.
Now, a used electric car showroom in San Francisco suggests the tide is turning again. As gasoline prices climb — hitting $6.81 a gallon at a nearby station on Wednesday — a flurry of drivers are making appointments to check out Ever’s lightly used EVs, many priced under $30,000.
“Gas prices are coming up in almost every customer conversation,” said Maximilian Quertermous, Ever’s co-founder and chief operating officer. “The momentum of the last few weeks is among the strongest we’ve seen.”
Ever is just one dealership, but signs of a shift are playing out across the world. In Southeast Asia, buyers are flocking to Chinese EV giant BYD Co.’s stores, while electric rickshaws are selling out in Pakistan. A shortage of cooking oil in India is driving a run on electric stoves. From Germany to Nigeria, interest in rooftop solar is surging. And in the UK, some homeowners are taking the plunge on expensive heat pumps.
“We are in the middle of the second energy shock in the 2020s,” said Kingsmill Bond, an energy strategist at UK think tank Ember, following the crisis triggered by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. “It will flow into people’s decisions on what energy-hungry devices they buy.”
Consumers are responding to one of the largest disruptions in global oil markets by embracing low-carbon technologies that promise to lower gas and power bills. For many, the conflicts in Iran and Ukraine have driven home a harsh reality: the only path to energy security is going electric.
While the S&P Global Clean Energy Transition Index, a leading gauge of green companies, has remained largely flat since the war began, several individual companies have surged. Shares of SolarEdge Technologies Inc., which sells power inverters used for solar panel systems, have advanced 45% and fuel cell producer Plug Power Inc. has gained 27% since the start of the conflict to Wednesday’s close. In Hong Kong trading, the world’s top battery supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. jumped 29% and BYD moved 12% higher.
—
Below, Chinese EV giant BYD ready to enter Canadian market with highly competitive offerings that should have the US automakers awake at night.
Too bad the Trump administration pulled the rug out from under the US EV industry, then decided to jack up the price of gas.
Not exactly strategic.
There will be ahorde of US tourists crossing the border to buy Chinese vehicles. The prices will soar and we’ll have to enlarge the number that can be imported.
All Chinese cars bought by Americans in Canada will either be blocked at the border or subject to the standard 100% tariff rate (so, an American would essentially be paying twice for the same car). Details can be found online in multiple places, but a pretty clear explanation is also here:
https://www.torquenews.com/18004/if-you-buy-chinese-ev-canada-you-can-drive-it-us
It’s the same as any import duties on regular goods when crossing the border, but it’s 100% specifically on Chinese cars, instead of much lower rates for virtually everything else.
“Vehicles must comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, which most Chinese market EVs do not meet, making registration and insurance in the U.S. impractical.”
To sell them in Canada, they must meet Canadian standards, just as European models sold in the US have to have more powerful* airbags than those required in Europe.
___________________
*The US has an annoying requirement that the airbags have to protect 180lb unbelted passenger. This is one reason that babies have been killed by the explosion. The US’ fix: Require babies to ride in the back seat.
I’m also looking forward to the BYD Numberwang advertised by Mitchell and Webb.
“A shortage of cooking oil in India is driving a run on electric stoves.”
Hwut?! Cooking oil?
The problem in India is the shortage of the commonly-used Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) usually sold in pickup tanks everywhere.
They are buying a lot of portable induction cooktops.
Works for me.
I assume they must mean some kind of petroleum distillate used in stoves, rather than an ingredient or frying oil