JPMorgan Asset Management strategist Michael Cembalest had previously predicted that President Joe Biden would drop out from this year’s presidential race in his list of “top 10 possible surprises for 2024” published in the company’s Jan. 1 “Eye on the Market Outlook” report.
I think EV sales will improve once more affordable EVs, and EVs not named Tesla come on the market. Tesla has become such a polarizing brand, thanks to their CEO. If I were a Tesla shareholder, I would be pissed at him for that. Admittedly, there are many people who have very positive associations with Musk and Tesla, but many others have very negative associations with the Tesla brand. That’s not ideal, for any brand. But, I think EVs are here to stay, even if Tesla’s market dominance isn’t, necessarily.
All that said, the government needs to do much more. More subsidies and much more investment in charging infrastructure.
This one is now the key. The vast majority of complaints now revolve around usable charging infrastructure. The people who rely on fast chargers (we should be making it so those are unnecessary for 99.5% of times) are finding many of them either broken, have the cables clipped, or they don’t charge at the rated speed. Two of those things can be fixed with proper maintenance and the cable clipping can be fixed with proper security. Honestly, we need to incentivize PUDs to setup fast chargers. That will make EVs more attractive in rural areas and eventually provide a new source of revenue.
Also, people just aren’t buying new cars in general, and a used EV is a hell of a lot cheaper than a new one.