Enthusiasm For Electric Vehicles Appears Excessive

Enthusiasm For Electric Vehicles Appears Excessive

Share to Linkedin A mini electric vehicle of Banpu NEXT, a Thai ride sharing and rental service promoting clean energy ... [+] fuel vehicles, drives along a road in Bangkok. (Photo by Romeo GACAD / AFP) (Photo by ROMEO GACAD/AFP via Getty Images) For nearly my entire career, there have ben enthusiastic advocates for electric vehicles which never seemed to translate into actual market success. While that should suggest skepticism about current claims for the technology's viability is warranted, it is hardly proof that such claims should be completely disregarded. Skepticism doesn't mean disbelief, it means careful consideration. I'm kind of like the grumpy old man in the microwave commercial a few years back who, listening to the marketer sing the over's praises keeps saying, "But does it brown the food?" I am constantly hearing: · The Chinese market is booming; · When batteries are less than $100/kwh, BEVs will be competitive with ICE vehicles. To all of which I respond, do the cars achieve mass market volumes without major government support? Or, to paraphrase a certain movie character, "Show me the sales!" Tesla TSLA is certainly doing well, but others, not so much. The graph below shows GM's sales