The comments here are great pushing against this, the other thing I’ll add is that this is a capex vs opex thing. Operating an EV is way cheaper but purchasing one is more expensive. Additionally rich countries are often more demanding than poorer ones because the opex cost is “real” in poorer countries. Governments can essentially solving this by underwrite this cost, create nice loans, cashbacks, tax backs, etc etc.
One example I give is that in India, you have electric bikes and scooters which are quite attractive because of the running costs, but they have low range and low power. Indians are just practical with how much money they have so they’ll make the tradeoffs. In richer countries, they don’t even sell the equivalent bikes or scooters because someone in those countries just turns their nose up at the power or range.
So I did a very generic statement. The Atto 1 is indeed quite cheap, but it’s not exactly a best-seller (they recently dropped the price by 4kAUD, or nearly 20% off). In fact, basically none of the “cheap” EVs (Geely EX2, GWM Ora, etc) are selling in great numbers, and that was my point. So in my example, Australians “turn up their noses” at the Atto 1 because there are too many compromises. Despite the price, it’s Australia’s 10th best selling EV. People would rather spend a bit more and get an MG4 or an Atto 2 / 3.
To some extent, EVs in Australia are going so well right now because they’ve hit a “Luxe” threshold, where you get an EV with luxury features for the same price or a bit less than the equivalent Petrol car. Put another way, it’s not that the Atto 1 is cheap, it’s that no one is selling a Petrol car in Australia which is cheaper because Australians just won’t touch it.
The comments here are great pushing against this, the other thing I’ll add is that this is a capex vs opex thing. Operating an EV is way cheaper but purchasing one is more expensive. Additionally rich countries are often more demanding than poorer ones because the opex cost is “real” in poorer countries. Governments can essentially solving this by underwrite this cost, create nice loans, cashbacks, tax backs, etc etc.
One example I give is that in India, you have electric bikes and scooters which are quite attractive because of the running costs, but they have low range and low power. Indians are just practical with how much money they have so they’ll make the tradeoffs. In richer countries, they don’t even sell the equivalent bikes or scooters because someone in those countries just turns their nose up at the power or range.
That’s not true, Australia has a small BYD Atto 1 for $A20k ($14kUSD) and that’s with taxes, there are no ICE vehicles for that price.
So I did a very generic statement. The Atto 1 is indeed quite cheap, but it’s not exactly a best-seller (they recently dropped the price by 4kAUD, or nearly 20% off). In fact, basically none of the “cheap” EVs (Geely EX2, GWM Ora, etc) are selling in great numbers, and that was my point. So in my example, Australians “turn up their noses” at the Atto 1 because there are too many compromises. Despite the price, it’s Australia’s 10th best selling EV. People would rather spend a bit more and get an MG4 or an Atto 2 / 3.
To some extent, EVs in Australia are going so well right now because they’ve hit a “Luxe” threshold, where you get an EV with luxury features for the same price or a bit less than the equivalent Petrol car. Put another way, it’s not that the Atto 1 is cheap, it’s that no one is selling a Petrol car in Australia which is cheaper because Australians just won’t touch it.