President Donald Trump is no fan of the government giving battery-electric-vehicle buyers tax breaks. Nor does he back government clean-air mandates that help spur BEV production and sales. Mix in the newly announced 25% auto-import tariffs, and it fogs up what’s ahead for the auto industry and BEVs specifically.
To unravel some of the questions, WardsAuto spoke about the future of BEVs with dealer experts. See their photos and an edited version of their comments below:
(Editor’s note: Wards classifies battery-electrics, hybrids, plug-in hybrids and fuel cells as electrified vehicles (EVs); battery-electric vehicles are specified as BEVs. Mentions of EVs below are unedited but primarily refer to BEVs, by Wards' definition.)
Dealer principal John Luciano, Street Volkswagen of Amarillo, TX:
EVs were never going to be a hit in my market, which is like the oil capital of the U.S. Most of our customers are interested in cars with internal-combustion gasoline engines.
That said, we’ve done OK with the ID.4 electric SUV. I took four as an allotment, and they sold pretty quickly.
People here are willing to drive an EV but see it as a part-time or second or third car in addition to their ICE vehicles.
We haven’t done well with the new ID. Buzz (an all-electric reimagining of the iconic Volkswagen Microbus).
I took eight. They’re still on the lot. Before it hit the market, we had a lot of customer inquiries. That interest wanes when they find out it’s an EV.
The real impediment with the ID. Buzz is the price. (It retails from $61,545 to $72,540). To most of our customers, that is too much. That might be OK with old rich hippies in California (the old microbus was a hippie-hit in the 1960s and 1970s). But it’s different here.
EVs aren’t going away, but they aren’t going to rule the world.
Tim Jackson, former head of the Colorado Auto Dealers Assn. who authored the 2024 book, “Dude, Where’s My Flying Car?”:
With Trump not a fan of EV tax incentives, it raises questions about where EVs will go.
I was at a dinner of dealer vendors the other night, and it was a big topic of discussion. The consensus was that EVs are here to stay. But exactly where EVs are headed is the $64-billion question.
In Colorado, BEVs were 24% of state vehicle registrations last year, compared with about 5% in 2021.
Colorado has surpassed California in EV market-share percentage.
At the state dealer association, we actively promoted EV sales. We had an auto show EV pavilion and a convoy of green vehicles going around the state. We hosted and supported a lot of EV events.
Dealers will enthusiastically sell anything – as long as it sells well.
Earlier, some dealers were skeptical of the prospects of EV sales. Others were enthusiastic about it.
I predict that an EV market will be in certain parts of the country – such as Colorado and California. Other states, such as Arkansas with a 2% EV registration rate, have a long way to go.
Dealer principal Andrew DiFeo, Hyundai of St. Augustine, FL:
A lot of EV interest is state dependent. If you talk to Colorado or California dealers, the more EVs the merrier. EVs account for 50% of their sales for some dealers in particular regional markets in those two states.
That’s not the case here in Florida. I took my foot off the gas in ordering a lot of EVs. I’m just not sure of the landscape. There doesn’t seem to be a robust EV interest here. I’ve adjusted my inventory accordingly.
We’re finding the sales impediments remain the same: range anxiety and an insufficient recharging network.
Hyundai’s EV offerings include an electrified version of the Kona and the Ioniq lineup (of two utility vehicles and a sedan).
But the Tucson with a gasoline engine is our bread and butter.
EV adoption rate hasn’t peaked, but it has slowed. All manufacturers have adjusted to that. We’ll see over the next five years where the EV adoption rate will settle in. (Currently, in the U.S. it’s about 9%, with 1.3 million deliveries last year). I predict it will be 20% to 25% of the market in 2030.
Bob Lanham, CEO of CarsNow, a digital auto-retailing provider:
Two main takeaways I saw from pulling our dealer clients’ EV activity for Ford, Kia, Hyundai and BMW:
First, for lead conversions – defined as the total number of EV leads divided by the total number of EV digital retailing sessions – all four OEMs saw a higher lead conversation on their EV models vs. their ICE model, with Hyundai seeing the highest at +12%.
Second, EV digital retailing sessions as a percentage appear to be in line with each of the OEM’s percentage of sales of EVs compared to ICE vehicles. People looking at EVs online are more likely than ICE shoppers to provide information about themselves on dealer websites.
The data shows people looking at EVs on dealer websites. Some are intrigued by the concept. Others are looking to buy.
I think the most significant gap regarding EV sales is education, whether it is understanding battery life, recharging or pricing. People are also trying to figure out fuel savings, range and what battery life means.
We’ll know the power of the tariffs in the next few months.
The point we’re at now is people asking if an EV fits their lifestyle.
