Electric cars “will end up being the only option,” admits Tim Stokes, a visitor to the Detroit auto show who still plans to “wait as long as possible” before giving up gasoline-powered vehicles.
Like this employee in the telecom sector, many consumers who came to visit the show are still hesitant. Admiring a new gas-powered Ford Mustang, he says friends in the car industry advised him to wait three or four years until the industry “manages problems”. Are there enough charging stations? Are the higher prices justified? Is the production of batteries not harmful to the environment? So many questions that consumers ask themselves.
Justin Tata thinks that “internal combustion engines are living their last days”. But the young man does not plan to buy a car of this type for at least five years, or even ten, because he wonders about the recycling of batteries. The prominence of electric cars at the Detroit show, however, shows that they are no longer a niche product.
Driven to address concerns about global warming, and encouraged by government policies, automakers introduced electric versions of their most popular models.
“If you take all that into consideration, they may not be as clean as they look” Cristian Dambo
Chevrolet has thus highlighted an electric pickup (the Silverado) and two SUVs (the Blazer and the Equinoxe), available to order, for deliveries scheduled for 2023. Ford has unveiled an electric version of its successful pickup, the F-150, and launched a new SUV, the Mustang Mach-E. Industry experts point out that a real transformation of the American fleet will take years, in particular because of prices: an electric car costs on average nearly $67,000, according to Cox Automotive. Manufacturers are also experiencing difficulties in the supply chain and are worried about the future availability of certain materials, such as lithium or cobalt.
Don Lamos, who works for a manufacturer, had ordered a Lightning, but reversed his decision when Ford raised the price above the $80,000 mark, not to be crossed to benefit from a tax credit of $7,500. With his wife Janice, they are now considering the Chevrolet Equinox, marketed from 30,000 dollars.
The couple are sure they want to go electric, to save money and out of environmental conviction. But they’re not sure they want to spend that much now when batteries are likely to get better.
Others are also held back by the lack of charging stations.
What about charging stations
Many electric vehicles promise to travel almost 500 km on a single charge, but the distance decreases depending on the load.
“When you need gas you can find it around the corner. I don’t believe there are enough stations for a car like this”notes Carlos Rubante, a visitor, about the Lightning.
President Biden cleared 7.5 billion dollars for the construction of terminals. During his visit to the salon, he assured that they would soon be “as easy to find as petrol stations” along highways crossing the United States.
Finally, big unknowns around the production of these cars remain in the eyes of consumers.
Beyond battery recycling, the consequences of the all-out extraction of materials, such as child labor in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, worry Cristian Dambo Damboiu, who works for an automotive subcontractor. “If you take all that into consideration, they might not be as clean as they look”he points out.