Yearly, the Sierra Membership conducts its Electrical Car Buying Expertise survey to seek out out extra in regards to the electrical automotive procuring expertise. A few of the outcomes from the survey this 12 months would possibly shock you. Across the CleanTechnica natural smoothie bar at this time, there was quite a lot of consternation after we learn this statistic from the Sierra Membership’s 2023 Rev Up report:

“Some automotive dealerships refuse or are nonetheless not able to promote EVs to shoppers. Of the 66% of automotive dealerships that didn’t have an EV on the market, 45% of these sellers reported they’d not supply an EV on the market no matter automaker allocation and provide chain constraints.”

That signifies that 30% of US sellers are unwilling to promote EVs. Shocked? We positive had been. That is like an electronics retailer saying it is not going to promote smartphones or flat display TVs. Why on Earth would a retailer that makes a residing promoting stuff voluntarily refuse to promote objects clients need? However wait, there’s extra — rather more — startling information tucked away inside this 12 months’s Rev Up report. [Note: the Sierra Club survey does not distinguish between battery electric and plug-in hybrid models.]

• 66percentof automotive dealerships nationwide didn’t have a single EV accessible on the market, whereas 34% of sellers did have an EV accessible on the market. Provide chain, stock points, and automaker allocation of EVs to dealerships created EV availability obstacles. Of the 66% of automotive dealerships that didn’t have an EV on the market, 44% reported they’d supply an EV on the market if they may get one.
• Solely 27% of sellers within the Western area had an EV accessible on the market — decrease than all different areas. Nevertheless, the Western area bought much more EVs than the remainder of the nation and accounted for 45% of the nation’s EV gross sales in 2022, indicating that the low availability is a results of excessive gross sales turnover and excessive shopper demand.
• Mercedes-Benz had the most effective EV availability amongst automotive manufacturers. 90% of the Mercedes Benz dealerships surveyed had an EV accessible on the market.
• Toyota and Honda had the worst EV availability. Solely 11% of Honda sellers and 15% of Toyota sellers had an EV accessible on the market.

Charts courtesy of the Sierra Membership.

The 2023 Electrical Automobiles Survey

Within the introduction to this 12 months’s Rev Up report, the Sierra Membership says, “Electrical automobiles (EVs) have gotten extra mainstream and know-how has superior considerably over time. EVs produce considerably decrease lifetime emissions than typical gasoline-powered vehicles, even when accounting for mining for vital minerals, EV manufacturing, and the electrical energy for charging.

“This report examines the provision of EVs being bought at automotive dealerships and the obstacles to shoppers who’re out there for an EV. The stark #1 discovering is that two thirds of sellers don’t even have one EV on the market. Whereas some dealerships are nonetheless reluctant to completely embrace EVs, many sellers are expressing a newfound eagerness to promote EVs.

“Nevertheless, it’s the accountability of producers to ship extra EVs to all sellers. The final word conclusion is that automakers should make investments extra in EV manufacturing to match shopper demand that’s at a report excessive.”

ZEV vs. Non-ZEV States

There’s an previous expression in gross sales that goes like this: “You may’t promote from an empty wagon.” It dates again to the times when folks with pushcarts roamed the streets promoting every thing from vegatables and fruits to cookware, clothes, meats, and fish. Think about, if you’ll (thanks, Rod Serling) a pushcart — let’s name it Cart A — coming down your road laden with recent fruits — apples, pears, peaches, plums — all neatly organized in orderly rows.

Now change the picture in your head to a cart — let’s name it Cart B — with one apple, two pears, no peaches, and a group of plums that appear like they could have accompanied the Roman legions when Julius Caesar found that Gallia in tres partes divisa est. If the 2 carts are positioned aspect by aspect, which one would you select? For those who stated Cart A, go to the top of the category, you are actually an authorized advertising and marketing genius.

Charts courtesy of the Sierra Membership.

The Sierra Membership survey discovered that the portion of sellers that had electrical vehicles on the market was about the identical in California and the states that adhere to its zero emissions pointers as within the states that don’t have such pointers — roughly two thirds in each instances. However, right here’s the distinction: In these ZEV states — California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington — the sellers are promoting all the electrical vehicles they’ll get their arms on and are screaming for extra. Within the non-ZEV states, there isn’t any provide as a result of there may be little demand and producers, naturally, are sending what few EVs they should the states the place sellers are clamoring for them.

Thirty 5 p.c of dealerships in ZEV states had an accessible EV on the market, whereas 65 p.c didn’t. Of the 65 p.c of sellers that didn’t have an accessible EV on the market, 52 p.c would supply an EV on the market if they may, whereas 41 p.c wouldn’t. In 2022, the 16 ZEV states bought 580,487 EVs, representing 61 p.c of EV gross sales nationwide, the Sierra Cub report stated.

Thirty-three p.c of dealerships in non-ZEV states provided an EV on the market, whereas 67 p.c didn’t. Of the 67 p.c of sellers that didn’t have an accessible EV on the market, 41 p.c would supply an EV on the market if they may, whereas 47 p.c wouldn’t. In 2022, the 35 non-ZEV states bought 368,824 EVs, representing 39 p.c of EV gross sales nationwide.

Total, though EV availability between ZEV and non-ZEV states was related, the Sierra Membership discovered that ZEV states accounted for a disproportionate quantity of the nation’s whole EV gross sales. This implies that the ZEV coverage spearheaded by California is working as supposed and is driving increased EV uptake in states which have adopted California’s zero emissions insurance policies.

The Takeaway

Automakers are spending lots of of billions of {dollars} to convey electrical vehicles to market, however numerous US automotive sellers refuse to inventory them, educate their clients about them, or prepare their gross sales workers tips on how to reply questions on them. These are the identical individuals who crow in regards to the good issues they’re doing for his or her neighborhood as a result of they purchase some Little League uniforms yearly.

How is it potential, when these communities are being ravaged by wildfires, drought, and extra highly effective storms (to not point out air air pollution), not to assist them mitigate the hurt from world heating? Willful stupidity is one potential clarification. We might be delighted to listen to from any of the 30% of US automotive vendor who refuse to promote electrical vehicles about how their choice makes any sense and why such anti-social conduct ought to be protected by vendor franchise legal guidelines.

There actually is just one potential clarification — greed. Show us improper. We dare you.