NEW YORK: Rising gas prices, greater competition in the electric vehicle (EV) market and improving technology are driving the demand for battery-powered cars in the United States.
EVs have become the fastest accelerating segment in the country’s automobile market, and a race is on for car makers to keep up.
In the first nine months of this year, sales accelerated 70 per cent compared to the year before. More than 200,000 EVs were sold in the third quarter alone.
Mr Garrett Nelson, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, said: “Charging times are improving, EV battery ranges are increasing. So it’s a very fluid situation but there’s been a lot of innovation, which is helping the EV market overall in really getting consumers more comfortable with the idea of buying an EV.”
EV MARKET COMPETITION
Tesla remains in pole position in the US market, accounting for more than 60 per cent of the country’s EV sales in the third quarter.
However, the gap is narrowing.
The Chevy Bolt, for instance, was the third most popular choice for consumers that quarter.
“It’s a no-nonsense, reliable electric vehicle that really is the first entry for a lot of people to move out of the gas-powered car into an electric car. And the reaction is that people are mostly surprised they don’t have to change their lifestyle,” said Chevrolet communications director Shad Balch.
Traditional US automakers are also facing competition from overseas.
Nearly a thousand of vehicles from Vietnamese electric car manufacturer VinFast have recently arrived from the Southeast Asian country. The brand now has 10 US showrooms, with more expected to open in the future.
EV sellers such as VinFast hope volatile gas prices seen in the US this year will persuade more people to make the switch.
“You don’t have to look at the gas price every day,” said Ms Van Anh Nguyen, chief executive officer of VinFast Manufacturing US. “Charging an EV at night, the electricity rate at night is usually the best, so it’s very reasonable and cheap to run an EV.”
Some states in the US are moving quickly to support the public’s move towards EVs.
California, for instance, has voted to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035, while New York wants only zero-emission vehicles to be sold in the state by then.
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