There are concerns surrounding the entire automotive industry. With many suddenly finding themselves without a job, buying a new car isn’t at the top of many people’s priority list. But there’s plenty of reason to believe that EVs won’t lose momentum, even despite falling gas prices.
As reported by Green Car Reports, Ford doesn’t seem concerned that falling gas prices will affect demand for EVs. In fact, it seems like the current economic conditions might end up hurting ICE car sales even more.
The main reason he says is that cost of ownership is not the primary reason most people would buy an EV. People buy EVs because they are great cars. If the cost of ownership was all that matters there’d be no reason to buy a Model S over a used Honda Civic.
We think…people are buying them because they’re great products first and maybe that cost of ownership on some products, like the commercial van, might be a little bit more of a consideration. If you were only relying on cost of ownership as your main reason for purchase, this (very low gas prices) could be quite disruptive.
Mark Kaufman, Ford’s global director of electrification
While cost of ownership has been a limiting factor in the past, EVs have come a long way. More affordable EVs have come in the past few years, and total cost of ownership has dipped below the price of a gas car.
If anything, a drop in gas prices doesn’t do much to change the equation, considering how incredibly cheap power is. And with Tesla slashing prices across their lineup, the balance might even move more towards EVs.
I think it’s short-sighted to think a drop in the cost of gas will hurt EVs more than the wider economic conditions at play. The automotive industry as a whole is hurting, and suddenly seeing a small drop in the price of gas won’t convince anyone to buy a new gas car.
But government intervention could do a lot to help push EVs forward. I’ll admit, the electric vehicle industry had a lot of momentum behind it, and this economic crisis could not have come at a worse time.
But governments across the world don’t want to lose all the progress we have made. Gas might be cheaper, but I believe EVs already have many advantages over ICE. The numbers don’t show it yet, but polluting is already a dying industry.
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