The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

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The Wrong Americans Are Buying Electric Cars

The EV early adopter has given way to the superuser or, worse still, the hoarder.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-15/the-wrong-americans-are-buying-electric-cars?leadSource=uverify%20wall

“A, the wrong people are buying these cars,” says Ashley Nunes, a Harvard economist studying this dynamic. “And B, the way those people are using these cars makes it very difficult for them to deliver an emissions advantage.”

Davis, at Berkeley, found that in multi-vehicle households, an EV tends to be the secondary or tertiary car. Some two thirds of households with an EV also had a gas-powered car that was driven more often. What’s more, that vehicle is more often than not a relatively inefficient one — namely a large truck or SUV.

“That’s bad,” Davis says. “If EVs are going to be an environmental solution, it hinges on them being widely adopted beyond what’s a niche product for rich people.”