Electric Vehicles Are About To Get Crazy Cheap
Electric cars are nearing a major milestone that will propel adoption to new heights
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A decade ago, barriers to electric vehicle ownership were everywhere. Range was limited — the best selling vehicle of the day, the Nissan Leaf, offered just 73 miles (or 117 km) per charge. Longer ranges were available, but costly. The Tesla Model S could offer as much as 265 miles in the highest end variant, but at a price tag of over $80,000 put it out of reach for most buyers.
The problem was worsened by the lack of chargers — few existed, and those that did charged painfully slow. The typical “fast” charger of the day could charge at only 50 kW, which would take half an hour to fill even the measly battery of the Nissan Leaf. Tesla improved on the issue somewhat with the Supercharger network, which could also charge at a more respectable 120 kW.
Very few models were available, leaving little room to choose. If you were in the market for a truck or large SUV, you were out of luck entirely. If you wanted a range of 200+ miles but weren’t willing to purchase a Tesla quite yet, you were out of options. And the process of actually buying one could be painful — dealership salesman often knew even less about electric cars than those attempting to buy them.
A Technological Revolution
Since then, a technological revolution has occurred. Ranges in the neighborhood of 250–300+ miles have become commonplace. The highest end vehicle, the Lucid Air, has a range of as much as 520 miles.
When Mazda recently introduced their electric MX-30, they revealed a range of just 100 miles. What would have been commonplace just ten years ago was now mocked mercilessly online and in the press for its uncompetitive range and price-point.
Chargers are more available than ever before, and the trend is continuing to accelerate. While just 866 fast chargers were available globally in 2011, nearly 400,000 were available in 2020. While charging is still lackluster in some regions, the rapid growth in charging infrastructure suggests suggests this issue will not last.
