DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – Despite efforts to make Michigan more fully Electric Vehicle by 2030, EV customers are still showing up slowly to manufacturers for non-gas cars. 

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One study from Cox Automotive, demonstrates that as opposed to their gas powered car lot counterparts, EVs are remaining stagnant in the sales line for nearly twice as long. 

According to Cox, the second quarter demonstrated that EVs sat for 92 days before selling, while gas powered cars roared off the lot in just over 50 days. 

“Our demand is not there yet; electrics aren’t selling like internal combustion cars,” said Doug North, president of North Brothers Ford in Westland, one of Metro Detroit’s largest Ford dealers according to the Detroit News. 

One of the other states seeking to convert the majority of its sales to EVs, California, is recording a slowing demand for the vehicle. 

“Gas vehicles are moving a lot faster than EVs. The Mach-E is a wonderful vehicle, and when it first came out (in 2021), we couldn’t meet demand, but now the rest of the industry is offering EVs and sales are stagnant,” said Manny Fernandez, general manager of Performance Ford in West Covina, California, north of Los Angeles. “I’m overloaded with Mach-Es. And the Tesla dealer across the street is slow, too.”

The Cox study denotes that inventory is up more than 300% this year for more than 92,000 vehicles, but the slowest moving EVs are selling, sometimes after sitting for over 300 days.  At the most sluggish pace, it recorded the Genesis Electrified G80 selling after 350 days, the Hyundai Ioniq after 159 days, and the first Volkswagen AG’s EV vehicle – the ID.4 selling after 113 days. 

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“Reservations didn’t translate into sales; the demand for EVs is nothing like that of gas F-150s,” said North, who expects to sell about 70 EVs total this year of the dealership’s total 1,500 units according to the Detroit News. “EVs have to be more affordable to the buyers, and the infrastructure needs to improve. Right now, we’re seeing it as a purchase by households with two or more cars in the garage.”

In spring 2023, a report from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) found that Michigan is ranked among the top two states in the country for having the most money committed or invested in producing EVS or their components in the last eight years, a prospect that has received great support from Governor Gretchen Whitmer and other elected officials. 

“Michigan is on the move, and we have an extraordinary opportunity right now to create thousands of good-paying manufacturing jobs and bring supply chains home,” Governor Whitmer said in a statement. “We are bringing home $16.6 billion of projects creating 16,300 jobs building batteries and electric vehicles. At the state level, we will continue powering this growth through our bipartisan economic development fund, rich manufacturing heritage, and skilled workers. Together, we will make Michigan the undisputed leader in mobility and electrification and build a brighter future. Let’s get it done.” 

The report also projects that the U.S. EV manufacturing facilities will be capable of producing approximately 4.3 million new passenger vehicles each year in 2026, which is approximately 33% of all new vehicles sold in 2022, and anticipates that in the same year the battery manufacturing facilities in the states will be able to produce batteries sufficient to supply up to 11.2 million new passenger vehicles each year. 

One question that remains is whether or not sales will continue to improve or remain the same in the coming quarter and years, as one of Michigan’s largest automotive purchasers continue to make restrictions on non-EVs but have slow sales.