Not a very scientific venture by any means, but lets have a look at my de-identified friend group to see which of my friends have gone electric? We find significant uptake among suburban two car households, with one road-tripper, and one commuter car. If my friends are representative of society en large, there is still some distance to go in that market, but I’m starting to see the logic in all these electric crossovers that have been hitting the market.
Methodology: I surveyed the driveways of my friends to see which ones had gone Electric, and if there are any lessons to be learned for carmakers. This survey was hardly scientific, and I am sure there are some sizable omissions. As we will see, my friend group is not entirely consistent with Torontonians.
As we can see, 15% are fully electric households. Where the one electric car gets everyone where they need to go. A similarly sized portion of households have one electric car, and one gas car, about a third have a hybrid along with a gas car for longer journeys, with the last third being all gas car households.
It seems, the “Electrified commuter” category where one car is a full gas car, with the other being a hybrid of some sorts, might offer an easy win for carmakers. In this scenario, the hybrid is traded out for a fully electric commuter. Charging is mostly done at home, alleviating concerns over the state of the public charging network. This could provide for “doubling” in the EV install base.
Then there is the similarly sized (at least in my little friend group), group where its one or two gas cars. For some its an affordability thing, as discussed, gas cars are about 10k cheaper than EVs (source), for some its a range thing, perhaps a cabin in the woods that while Ive taken my EV there, requires some fitness in an EV. Also, while there are lots of electric cars, and crossovers, there are fewer three row SUVs and minivans. But as more and more EVs become available, I expect both more affordable and more capable EVs in the future, thus automakers should have more success in getting more families to go electric.
Most of my friends live in houses, often in the suburbs, where at-home charging is reasonably easy to arrange. One of my buddies lives in a Condo with an EV, relying on the public charging network to keep the EV going. Apparently, close to half of Toronto’s population lives in apartments of some sorts, be it rentals, condos or some other arrangements (source). While there are charging stations in condos today, more charging opportunities for condo-dwellers would be helpful.
Electric car adventures 