The automotive industry in the United States is failing to meet consumer demand for electric vehicles, according to a new Sierra Club report — Rev Up Electric Vehicles: A Nationwide Study of the Electric Vehicle Shopping Experience.
The study found that 66 per cent of car dealerships across the U.S. did not have an EV available for sale for consumers. Of that number, 44 per cent said they would offer an EV if they could acquire one. In connection to this issue, the report also notes that automakers are “greenwashing” their EV commitments.
“We are in a climate crisis and at a major inflection point for the American electric vehicle industry, and yet automakers are still pumping out millions of gas-powered vehicles while they lag on their EV commitments,” said Katherine Garcia, Director of the Sierra Club Clean Transportation for All, in a statement.
Issues around supply chain, inventory, and allocation of EVs to dealerships created availability barriers. OEMs such as Toyota and Honda had the worst availability: only 11 per cent of Honda dealers and 15 per cent of Toyota dealers had an EV available to sell to consumers — compared to 90 per cent for the Mercedes-Benz dealerships that were surveyed.
Some dealerships also refuse to sell EVs to consumers, or are not yet ready to do so. And of the 66 per cent of car dealerships we previously mentioned that did not have an EV for sale, 45 per cent said they would not offer one “regardless of automaker allocation and supply chain constraints.”
“To help avoid the worst impacts of climate disruption and protect our communities, it’s important that we accelerate the transition to all-electric vehicles,” said Garcia in a statement. “Enough empty promises: The auto industry must step on the accelerator and get electric vehicles on dealership lots now.”
