Keep Burning Gas - One EV Expert Advises Against Buying an EV This Year

We won’t hide our admiration for Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield. The host of Transport Evolved (TE) is one of the most entertaining and best-informed EV advocates in the world. In the latest edition of TE’s outstanding Youtube channel, Gordon-Bloomfield articulates in great detail why an electric vehicle shopper should stop and not buy an EV this year. Although this might seem like a simple bait and switch type of headline, the case is pretty strong that Gordon-Bloomfield is correct in this advice. We will tell you in advance there is no hook, or reversal of the advice. It’s real. Here’s how the argument goes.

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Shortages Mean Terrible Value For Electric Vehicle Buyers
The basis for the argument that shoppers for EVs should stop, and keep driving what they are driving, for the most part, gasoline-powered vehicles, is shortages. Empty retail lots have resulted in price jumps from the most affordable EV in America, the Chevy Bolt line (yes, we know it’s off the market officially) to Tesla’s line of EVs. Across the board, EVs, new, used, affordable, and ridiculously expensive, have leaped in price over the past year. This is a topic that Torque News, and pretty much every other outlet has reported on in great detail.

The simple background reason for the jump in prices is “chips.” The more complex reason is that the market upheaval was due to automakers guessing wrongly about upcoming demand, a global shortage of EV battery capacity in the best of times, and unscrupulous retailers of EVs who want to earn more money on fewer vehicles available to be sold. The upshot is that vehicle costs have gone way up (along with housing, food, energy, and pretty much the rest of the stuff we buy). If you are entirely disconnected from the reality that MSRP means nothing when purchasing an EV, feel free to cite a few examples you feel counters this argument in the comments below.

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If You Act Now You May Miss Your Coming Entitlement
Despite the fact that EVs are sold out through most of next year already, the Congress and Executive branch are desperate to pass a new tax bill that will “help make EVs sell better.” The bill will also help companies like Tesla and GM who have already committed to making nothing but EVs as soon as practical (ten years ago in Tesla’s case) commit to making EVs. If there is logic there, feel free to explain it.

The real reason for changes to the existing EV tax subsidy entitlement program is union payoffs, social engineering, income redistribution, and all that jazz. You may disagree, and feel free to comment away below, but further incentivizing a thing that is in super high demand makes no sense economically.

Better EV Stuff Is Coming, So Hold Your Horses
Gordon-Bloomfield also explains the grass is always a greener philosophy for not buying an EV now and continuing to drive your jalopy. Examples in the video include upcoming models by Hyundai and Kia. We don’t disagree that future EVs seem promising. We’d add the Tesla Roadster, Tesla Cybertuck, Ford F-150 Lightning, GM Lyriq, Hummer truck, Silverado EV, and whatever Toyota is calling its upcoming third-generation battery-electric crossover. Heck, throw in the Rivian and Lucid $75K planet savers. If you didn’t order one during the Taft administration you’re never going to own one in the coming year. The idea that “better” EVs are right around the corner is easy to grasp. But it also means the ones we all talk so lovingly about now are lousy by comparison. Which I don’t personally agree with.

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Buying Used Won’t Work
Buying a used EV might have been a solution had the cost of used EVs not also skyrocketed. We could beat a dead horse for the fun of it, but our hands are getting cramped from typing.

Watch the TE video below if not to hear the arguments in more detail, but for the enjoyment of Gordon-Bloomfield’s cool, quirky, and well-informed dialogue. The advice is not wrong. Buying an EV right now is almost a punishing experience. So, keep on burning gas, or driving your "old" 2011 70-mile-range Leaf from charging station to charging station, and hope that this mess resolves before we all march board SpaceX capsules to flee the planet.

John Goreham is a long-time New England Motor Press Association member and recovering engineer. John's interest in EVs goes back to 1990 when he designed the thermal control system for an EV battery as part of an academic team. After earning his mechanical engineering degree, John completed a marketing program at Northeastern University and worked with automotive component manufacturers, in the semiconductor industry, and in biotech. In addition to Torque News, John's work has appeared in print in dozens of American news outlets and he provides reviews to many vehicle shopping sites. You can follow John on TikTok @ToknCars, on Twitter, and view his credentials at Linkedin

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