Electric dreams? Think again
Dear oh dear. I’ve been asked to
give my views with regard to electric vehicles.
Go deeper with GlobalData
There are now a number of
manufacturers committed to manufacturing these milk floats made to
look like cars, helped along by the government’s commitment to
subsidising the move from petrol/diesel to electric.
At the moment, however, we have
electric cars with a range of less than 100 miles and the weight of
a combine harvester.
Once they are further developed and
the cost of manufacture reduced, the manufacturers will be able to
market their cars worldwide. Meanwhile, we will be sitting on a
pile of cars that cost a fortune to create, and, due to rapid
developments in battery technology, will be worth very little.
What will happen when buyers find
their cars are obsolete within a couple of years or even months of
buying or leasing them?
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By GlobalDataTake a look back to when Toyota and
Honda launched their hybrid cars, the Prius and Insight.
While not pretty cars, they seemed
to be hugely practical – but travel the length of the M1 these days
and count the number visible on the road. You might be lucky and
see one.
Even when we were able to provide
Insights on leases of £199 + VAT per month, we weren’t exactly
crushed in the rush to lease them.
So where are the drivers going to
come from to take the new Peugeot iOn, about half the size of an
Insight, and costing in the region of £415 + VAT per month to lease
over four years.
Even worse, according to press
reports, Peugeot will re-lease these used 4 year old cars for
around £330 + VAT per month when they are returned at the end of
the first lease.
Peugeot say they are aiming at
fleets and local authorities. Even so, given the current state of
the economy, how will they find customers when small, similar
sized, diesel cars can be leased for less than half the cost
without any of the obsolescence risks involved?
And what about consumers? Will they
consider buying or leasing these cars or, God forbid, buying the
car and leasing the batteries as other manufacturers have
suggested?
It seems unlikely considering
consumers generally struggle with the concept of leasing, let alone
the confusion of mixing purchase with leasing. This may end up
being a step too far.
And what about the legal
implications if the car breaks down and the batteries are leased?
Who decides whether the car or the batteries are at fault?
The list goes on.
