People look at electric BMWs and Volkswagens on the test track at the Chicago Auto Show on Feb. 12, 2023, at McCormick Place.
For many, this is hard to believe. During the past decade, we’ve been told that the electric vehicle is on the cusp of broad adoption, awaiting only a few minor tweaks to its battery. But while we’ve been waiting, the tweaks haven’t sufficed, and the modern electric car is still predominantly a product for the wealthy. EVs, it seems, still can’t compete with the low-priced Civics and Corollas of the world. And those vehicles continue to make up a large percentage of global auto sales.
The rationale for this is climate change, of course. That being the case, the more honest message would be, “We want to curb greenhouse gas production, and we know we can’t compete with your Toyota Corolla, so we’re going to force you to buy an electric vehicle.” But we’ll never hear that. Voters don’t like being forced. So we instead hear about how great this transition will be for consumers.
So now we have an EPA plan to solve this dilemma. It’s a fix for a century-old technology struggling toward prime time.