How Do These Tesla Model Y Competitors Reach 5× More Sales? – CleanTechnica

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A few days ago, I wrote about 10 electric crossovers/SUVs in the US that were comparable to the Tesla Model Y in terms of pricing, size, and driving range on a full charge. Then, yesterday, I published on US electric vehicle sales in 2024 — following a report on US electric vehicle sales in the 4th quarter. The good news is these vehicles are selling more than ever. The bad news is … they aren’t anywhere close to the sales of the Tesla Model Y.

While this is something we’ve gotten used to over the years, with more and more models coming to market and getting more and more competitive, it seems we should really start seeing some bigger sales from compelling non-Tesla electric crossovers. The question is: what’s needed to get them to reach 5× more sales? Or even 3× more sales?

I initially thought about creative efforts to get butts in seats — to get people to come into dealerships for test drives. But I realized these ideas were highly unlikely to ever happen. Automakers have tried incentivizing dealers in various ways to sell EVs and nothing has really altered them from business as usual. Most dealers don’t want to sell EVs or simply don’t care to put any extra effort into selling EVs when they can more easily sell the gas cars they and customers are more used to. So, while I would like to see more creative events and strategies to get people to test drive EVs, I’m not going to spend time fleshing out such ideas.

I’m seeing conventional TV commercials for electric vehicles all the time. It’s great to see. It must be helpful. But most of these commercials don’t emphasize these are electric models, or even make it evident at all in some cases. In particular, strong EV benefits are ignored, and there’s no apparent attempt to address common EV concerns. Here are some things I think automakers could do to help move a lot more electric vehicles:

• Show people — particularly using fun/funny top-quality TV commercials — how much time they can save by charging at home. In some regards, with all of our single-family residences, the US should be a top EV market — the convenience of home EV charging and the associated time savings are enormous.
• Assuage people’s concerns about how long it takes to charge — show that it takes a few seconds to plug and unplug, and all the other things you can do while the car is charging itself.
• Provide perspective and even tailored examples to show how far a modern electric car can drive. Most people really don’t have a clue how little they drive (in terms of miles a day) or how far regional landmarks are. For example, Disney World seems like it’s quite far away to me, but all 10 of those EVs mentioned at the top could take me to Disney World and back without needing to recharge once. I imagine the vast majority of people in this area have no idea that’s the case. Providing an easy-to-use tool on one’s website to see how far an EV could take you could be a very useful.
• There’s also the superb smoothness and quiet of an electric vehicle powertrain. This seems to never be communicated in EV commercials. It would be great of automakers could better convey to people that the EV driving experience is truly superior to the gas-powered car driving experience. Metaphors, owner testimonials, and other creative techniques could be used.

The two things everyone without an electric car asks an EV owner are how far the EV can drive and how long it takes to charge. I think these ideas above could make a huge difference in making people more comfortable with — or excited about — buying an electric car.

Of course, there’s also the production side of things. The more automakers can scale up production, the more they can bring down costs. But it seems clear automakers are not eager to jump into EV production too fast and pay a massive price for that if they can’t find enough buyers. So, I think the key for now in the US is stimulating more consumer demand through better marketing.

Oh, yes, and all of these automakers could get their EVs access to Tesla’s Supercharger network, but that’s been done now.