Chevy has had a perfectly serviceable and low cost EV on the market for years. It's possible to buy them new for $30,000 or less (before rebates) and used ones can be had for under $14,000.
It isn't just about price or being an EV or the Leaf would be the best selling car in the world. People also want a car that isn't a piece of junk with low resale value, is cramped, or has bad styling. These are big purchases and a lot more thought goes into buying them than two simple checkboxes.
Automakers don't care about the used market in the same way video game makers or authors don't. They only get money from the initial sale. Everyone is trying to move to a subscription model to capture some of that revenue. No such thing as a 'used' League of Legends copy.
There are tons of affordable used EVs under 30k. Most of them just don't happen to be made anymore or have any parts availability without a fabrication shop.
The Bolt is nice, but it's crazy that it doesn't have much competition in the US.
Chevy has had a perfectly serviceable and low cost EV on the market for years
With the caveat that for those years it's been basically unobtainium. I looked into buying one at the start of last year and five dealers all had none in stock + a 6 month wait. (Their websites listed several in stock but we'll ignore that other thorn)
They killed production of it to focus on building luxury SUVs (Cadillac Lyriq) and the Blazer EV (starts $42k), so the stock that exists today is all there is. Used ones exist but the problem is they never actually made them in sufficient quantities to meet demand, and instead of ramping up production decided it'd be better to sell $40k-60k vehicles instead.
The US has a problem making shit ugly as fuck if it's cheaper. We're still in the mindset that something needs to be expensive to be good, but then complain when it's expensive. The Bolt and Leaf are cheap because no one wants to buy that shit.
They did ask for one from Congress, and when asked during testimony if they requested money from Mexico or China, the response was, "No, We're profitable in those countries."
But Ford mortgaged their brand instead and came out on top.
Yeah...sure it is. My brother ordered one 3 years ago and it was delivered last year - during which Ford hiked the price twice, removed features from the trim package, etc.
Each time he was given an opportunity to back out with a full refund of his deposit.
I'm pretty sure they were just trying to cut down the number of required deliveries while they figured out production problems - this discount is probably just returning to pre-hike pricing.
It's the carcinization of automobiles. Tall station wagons are simply the most practical shape for cars to be.
Frankly, the thing that bothers me about the Mustang Mach E isn't the shape, but rather the fact that they desecrated the name of what's supposed to be a low-slung coupe.
I think it's worse than them being ugly. I think the dimensions and visibility for crossovers makes people worse drivers. Massive blind spots, zero rear visibility, huge amounts of body roll in curves, and the danger of rollover are all worse in this body scheme.
It's so bad that they have to add technology like rear cameras, BLIS, and traction control to attempt to fix it because they can't just make a car with reasonable dimensions and good sight lines.
The problem is not the motor (as much) as it is where to put the batteries. Replacing just the gas tank on my tiny Subaru with a battery is not going to give the range I need.