I & I Editorial BoardYou’d think that the Iran war would have been good news for EV sales, given the boost in gasoline prices and general uncertainty it sparked. Instead, it might someday mark the beginning of the end of the left’s EV dreams.
New EV sales in April – the second full month of the war – were down 6.2% compared with March, and down a whopping 23% from the year before, according to Cox Automotive.
True, overall car sales were down last month, but just by 5.4% year over year, and 1.9% from March.
In other words, people were increasingly turning to gasoline-powered cars when they bought in April. And that’s even though searches for EV cars were up.
More people are searching for EVs, and fewer are buying them. That’s not exactly something you’d want to put in a promotional campaign.
And check out this chart from S&P Global.
It shows that EVs’ market share was heavily dependent on federal taxpayer subsidies, which have been down ever since they were canceled at the end of September. (The spike before that was the result of buyers trying to beat the end of this EV welfare program.)
But here’s the really juicy tidbit. The New Car Dealers Association reports that registrations of new EVs in California in the first quarter of this year were 40% below Q1 2025. This is the state that has done the most to force people into electric cars, including having gasoline prices that are currently above $6 a gallon.
See also: “Are EVs The Biggest Boondoggle In Human History?“
As Auto Guide notes, “Rising fuel prices are once again reshaping the American car market, but not in quite the way many expected. Instead of triggering a rush toward fully electric vehicles, the recent spike at the pump appears to be driving more buyers toward hybrids.”
This is as it should be. Consumers worried about gas prices have options. One of them is a hybrid, which has an internal combustion engine but can run on batteries for a time, extending the car’s fuel economy and range, sometimes significantly, without forcing drivers to sit around for half an hour at a charging station.
There’s nothing wrong with this, unless you are an environmental extremist. To them, hybrids are a terrible choice because, as NPR once explained, “they are at best a detour, and at worst an obstruction, in the fight against climate change.”
Got that? Hybrids aren’t a choice. They’re an obstruction. Leftists always end up as totalitarians.
Consumers have given their answer about EVs. Absent some technological miracle, or gas prices perpetually in the double digits, or Gavin Newsom becoming president, EVs will never be anything more than a niche product.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
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The correlation is interesting: EV sales plummet as gas prices rise. So It seems-as the I&I column declared. an anomaly has been produced in the marketplace.
But “No!”It is interesting to see the free market at work.
When EV’s were subsidized (under the Biden Administration) their sales rose as you would expect. Now, when they are no longer being subsidized their sales are falling, as you would also expect as evidence of an inferior (at least consumers thought so) product.
As a matter of fact one could make the case because of subsidization the value consumers saw in the EV-brand went down. No one likes to be manipulated and the Government was doing just that with its subsidization of EVs and regulations of gas powered vehicles.
Because of the rising gas prices, car batteries are being used (as in the hybrids that were bought); however, because of the EV charging inconvenience and the familiarity with and reliability of gas powered engines the hybrid is being bought instead of the solely powered electric EV.
Why? Because in the market place for cars, one doesn’t have to depend solely on electrical power, gas power is also available. Consumer choice, and therefore the consumer, is again proven king in the marketplace.
Niche product? Try a very expensive Golf Cart.
Are EVs The Biggest Boondoggle In Human History? Yep as is that ridiculous Global Warming / Climate Change idiocy that drove it. The Green New Deal was a lie from the very beginning, because the likes of Al Gore making millions off selling Carbon Credits which was a scam from the very beginning.
And now we are paying the price because we listened to phony experts who were pretending they are climate scientist. As it turns out is was all just a SCAM !
EVs are too soon for mass usage. The technology still needs to be improved for affordability by the average household. With the newer Aluminum Ion batteries making it a lot lighter for farther distance and a longer charge, a lot safer than the explosive Lithium that detonates when exposed to water while aluminum will not go boom under the same conditions, then it might be possible.
Lithium Ion batteries are very heavy and get roughly 210 to 280 miles per charge on a nice day in the summer months. Aluminum Ion are 45% lighter (wow) and will get 620 to 710 miles per charge on a summer day. Even better, that charge only takes 8 minutes with a 110 plug!
Charging stations, running on a 220 line. can take up to 4 hours for Lithium Ion to recharge to full, or longer, depending on the temperature. For Aluminum Ion, 3.5 minutes!
So why don’t we have Aluminum Ion batteries right now? They work, they’ve been developed, we just don’t have the facilities yet for mass production. Since they are completely different that Lithium the Lithium machines cannot be modified to make it into Aluminum. They need an entirely different machine to function and assemble the batteries in a much different manner.
The current estimate for enough facilities to be online and working to make mass production for Aluminum Ion available for EVs and even standard electronics is 2028 or 2029. That may seem like a long time, but they have to make these construction machines from scratch. That takes time.
Interesting facts and comparisons. Thanks, Daniel.
Bryan Taplits
I am anything but a Leftest and could not possibly care less about burning fossil fuels, yet I find my EV’s quiet and speedy drivability and home charging an order of magnitude better than any of the dozens of ICE vehicle I have owned and driven in my long life. I can’t ever see going back. You have to drive one to understand it though.
Everybody knows oil will be going back down soon. EVs make sense for a minority of car owners due to driving habits. I have two gas pickups that are paid off and have plenty of miles left. Cheaper to insure, cheaper tires, much slower depreciation, and no charging availability/fire worries.
I own a Tesla Model X. It’s the second best car I’ve ever driven. The best car I ever owned / driven was a Tesla Model S plaid. These cars are light years ahead of every gas car on the market. Most of you have never driven a Tesla but ignorantly spout off on places like this on how bad they are.
Crud like, “Just an expensive golfcart” – you guys are as bad as leftists and their CNN talking points…you’re as brainwashed as they are.
My expensive golfcart will wipe your car off the road and leave it so far in the dust it’s silly.
Best yet though – not a dime of my money goes to the Middle East for terrorists to bomb us. I want them to dry up and wither in their deserts.
I own an American made car.
I charge my car off my solar panels I bought and paid for 10 years ago at my home and office – so I pay nothing to drive or run my home and business. I locked in my energy costs 10 years ago and energy prices have doubled over that time. I’m saving money.
My local utility can’t control me anymore.
The oil cartel can’t control me anymore.
I can’t manufacture even 1 drop of gas, but I sure as heck can make electricity and run what I need to live. If gas becomes limited like when Jimmy Carter was in office I will drive onward while gas car owners will wait in long lines (even / odd license plate days all over again?) for their ration – until the gas stations run out – while I will drive onward.
I am as MAGA as exists – I don’t fall for the Global Warming junk – I’m a prepper – I did this for my freedom. I am free of the energy noose that used to be around my neck. Think about that before you post blasting away at me. Until you’ve done it, you simply just don’t know or understand.
Nothing is perfect – and there are limitations such as range issues and charging times or cloudy days, but proper planning alleviates all of that.
Something to ponder…
What will occur if you decide or have to relocate ?
It all depends on the reason for and the needed speed for such relocation.
China sells EV’s at prices below the cost of production and the manufacturers still make a profit thanks to subsidies.
EV sales slumped because the federal rebate got cancelled. it has nothing to do with Iran
Thanks for taking the time to comment. But the point of the editorial wasn’t that Iran is causing a slump in sales, it’s that the war done nothing to boost sales.
Re: “Consumers have given their answer about EVs. Absent some technological miracle, or gas prices perpetually in the double digits, or Gavin Newsom becoming president, EVs will never be anything more than a niche product.”
In and of themselves, the ONLY problem with EVs is the inadequate batteries both for range, speed of recharge and cost of replacement. Technological progress will eventually solve those issues and it will be gas powered cars that become a niche product.
Our current problem with EVs is entirely due to the immature left pushing for them before their time. That said, however inefficient and unjust, that push has led to manufacturer’s learning much about how to produce an EV and, when battery technology finally reaches an adequate level of sufficiency, EV’s time will have finally arrived.
I was amused by your line that “the ONLY problem with EVs is the inadequate batteries both for range, speed of recharge and cost of replacement.” In other words, everything that matters. Maybe all those can be fixed someday. Maybe.
No doubt a prerequisite for EV’s to become more mainstream will be technological advancement of batter technology, but I wouldn’t call that “some technological miracle”. WHile I can’t predict if/when such advancements will come to fruition, improvement has been ongoing for several years, and there’s no reason to expect it won’t continue. A future combination of declining prices and increasing range is likely to buttress sales.
I have 2 EV’s and enjoy them. Without the tax credit I wouldn’t have purchased them. So, I say the decline is due to the loss of the tax credit. For the time being I’m saving by charging our cars over buying gas, but I still need gas for my motorcycle and lawnmower. Driving my car is cheaper than riding my motorcycle!