With World No.2 EV company BYD hot on Tesla’s heels globally and in Australia, the electric vehicle revolution appears unstoppable, but are sales slowing in the US or not?
BYD, short for Build Your Dreams, has unleashed the lowest priced EV in Australia. The brand is the Seal, and it is priced from around $51,000 drive-away, which a report at News Ltd Australia says undercuts Tesla’s cheapest Model 3 sedan by about $14,000.
In Australia, electric vehicle sales have reached 80,446, a rise of 30,000 over the last 12 months.
A report in Computer Daily News says 7.7& of monthly sales in Australia are EVs, according to VFACTS vehicle sales data, and have grown 201% compared to the same time last year.
But an October 2023 report from Forbes gives 5 reasons why EV sales have slowed in the US, with those five reasons being an unfamiliarity with the product, lingering concerns about range anxiety, a limited charging network (and the wait times associated with getting a charge), early adopters all already having an EV, and high interest rates.
Yet a report from earlier in October from CNBC says EV sales in the US have hit record highs. This also conflicts with a report I heard on Jason Olbourne’s show on TNT Radio quoting a story that EV car sellers in the US had too much stock on display in stores and not selling.
There’s also a USA Today with a report from November 14 on why people aren’t buying EVs despite price cuts and tax rebates, but what happens in the US isn’t already replicated everywhere else.
There’s also the issue of battery fires, although BYD claims to have the industry’s safest batteries.
You can learn more about BYD’s sales in Australia, the super competitive pricing and their solution for the charging problem with a $499 charger that anyone can install at home, in the full video interview below.
You can watch me speak about this and plenty more at the Chris Smith Show, from Wednesday 6 December, 2023 below:
