Electric Vehicles: Glaring Problems

Written By: Griffin Hon



Electric vehicles seem to have gotten their big break finally.

In the wake of Tesla’s success, the hype train (or, more appropriately, hype electric vehicle) is full to bursting with companies including BMW, Daimler, Ford, GM, Nissan, Tesla, Toyota, VW, and recently, Cadillac.1 Volvo has wholly phased out their conventional engines, placing all of their chips on their newly dealt hand, the electric vehicle.2 All of the most recent news from the car industry seems to be singularly focused on this future product that approaches the present increasingly quickly. Even the International Energy Agency expects some 30% of all cars to be electric by 2030.3

However, this jump in popularity has been met with suspicion, and potentially for a good reason. Long-term planning is shaky; the infrastructure is mainly unprepared, quality compromises are abundant due to financial cuts,4 among numerous other problems including consumer misunderstanding and fluctuating public perception. The electric vehicle’s journey to complete ubiquity will be tricky (and perhaps on a 300 mile limit with a 17 hour charging time).

Electric vehicles (EVs) are at a consumer disadvantage

One of the most specific problems regarding EVs is that they are priced much higher.5 Use of EVs is littered with issues like oversensitivity to overcharging, which causes the need for frequent battery replacement - an expensive and time-consuming burden on the driver, which caused aversion to their usage in studies in South Korea.6 Electric vehicles have significantly higher entry costs and require continued investment to keep using the car. This undoubtedly causes much hesitation to purchase the EV, along with a widespread public perception of the lower reliability of EVs. This is caused not only by the intrinsic uncertainty of the public around new technology but specific issues like “range anxiety” and “charging time trauma”.7 None of this is helped by the fact that CV maintenance/repair locations and personnel are few and far between,8 making it difficult for consumers to drive their EVs comfortably. The inferior range of EVs, combined with their inadequate charging times and pricing, makes them seem worthless to many compared to their gasoline-powered counterparts. This perception, however, is a result of a lack of consumer education and is in economics as the endowment effect.9 Many consumers do not stay completely up-to-date with the latest developments of EV technology; a closer inspection of present reality will dispel many of the older myths regarding EV inferiority to gasoline vehicles. Even if these facts were examined, the endowment effect, our nature to value things that we own higher than the same things that we do not, prevents many from seeing EVs as a viable option compared to our beloved fossil-fuel-burning, climate-change-accelerating, gasoline-powered cars. However, countries like China have been able to push EVs significantly through their authoritative government legislation, with 90% of taxis and 100% of public buses in China expected to be EVs by the end of 2021. But, this kind of government intervention is nearly impossible in areas like Europe or North America.10 However, President Biden has already pledged to create tax credits to incentivize the purchase of EVs11 - a rare but laudable choice among world leaders, as few countries have supported such incentives.12 Credit benefits to EV drivers would help with their greater diffusion, as it would remove some of the risk involved with investing in novel technology. Implementing specified tax exemptions could also have a similar effect. The environmental potential of electric vehicles can only occur when they are used ubiquitously, and this can only be achieved through proper education and legislation.


Spotty charging infrastructure doesn’t seem to be going anywhere

Another elephant in the room is the poor charging infrastructure for EVs. While there are currently 150,000 gas stations in the US, there only exist 10,000 EV charging stations - a grossly insufficient number. The relative rarity of EV charging stations only contributes to range anxiety; although the effect is lessened in urban areas due to shorter drive times and more frequent charging stations, the issue remains large in rural and less technologically developed regions. This has led to a problematic feedback loop: few EV drivers, resulting in the public and private sectors being unwilling to invest in charging infrastructure. Inadequate charging infrastructure leads to few EV drivers, and so on.13 Furthermore, the issue of who should be building these charging stations has also not reached a definitive solution. Some believe that the government is responsible for the creation and maintenance of charging infrastructure.4 At the same time, other companies have taken it into their own hands to build over 1,000 charging stations,9 and some car companies are steadfast in building their special charging stations. This has led to issues of standardization and furthers the charging station problem. Nevertheless, Biden has pledged to build 500,000 charging stations on highways, expressing his support for electric vehicles during the presidential debate.11


Pitfalls in rapidly improving technology

Electric vehicles may be already approaching their peak in technological ability. Please don’t misunderstand this, however - these advances are significant. In 2016, the electric car had an 80-mile limit.14 By 2017, it had reached a 200-mile limit.15 Today, the limit in the most recent models is already approaching 300 miles. At one point, battery packs had a limit of 60-70 kilowatts per hour (kWh). Today, the limit is beyond 100 kWh. Prices for these technologies are dropping, as well. Previously, they were priced at $1000 per kilowatt-hour, which fell to $200 in 2019. Jed Dorsheimer, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity, stated in 2019 that EVs would become exponentially more popular once that price dropped below $100.10. But in 2020, it did, with the market average now sitting at $137.16. Improvement up to now is rapid, and most spectators would predict a continuation long into the future. However, experts on the subject believe that the technology might already be at its best. Ian Fletcher, an analyst at IHS Markit, stated that while the energy density of the lithium-ion battery (the battery that currently powers almost every EV on the market) had incredibly quadrupled in thickness over the last three decades, its potential has reached its limits.10 This, when the public believes that the journey into mass EV adoption and subsequent technological improvement has barely begun. A sudden plateau could severely damage the public reputation of EVs, especially as many of the companies above make forays into EV technology only for disappointment to be the result.


In conclusion

Electric vehicles currently face numerous problems with widespread integration, from public perception to lacking charging infrastructure. However, this is not to say that these challenges are insurmountable or that EVs are never doomed entirely to diffuse into the car market. The future has come to replace the past, and this is certainly not the first time. We can look at the classic example of the car replacing the horse in a single decade. At that time, the car faced very similar problems to the electric vehicle. Today, the EV enjoys presidential endorsement, the support of numerous big-name companies, and considerable funding from all sides. Whether the electric vehicle will be remembered as only a minor footnote or the future of transportation remains obscure, but hopes are high!





Works Cited:

Image Source:

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/03/03/climate/02cli-electric-illo/02cli-electric-illo-articleLarge-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale

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