EV sales continue to rise, but the last year of headlines falsely stating otherwise would leave you thinking they haven’t. After about full year of these lies, it would be nice for journalists to stop pushing this false narrative that they could find the truth behind by simply looking up a single number for once.
Here’s what’s actually happening: Over the course of the last year or so, sales of battery electric vehicles, while continuing to grow, have posted lower year-over-year percentage growth rates than they had in previous years.
This alone is not particularly remarkable – it is inevitable that any growing product or category will show slower percentage growth rates as sales rise, particularly one that has been growing at such a fast rate for so long.
In some recent years, we’ve even seen year-over-year doublings in EV market share (though one of those was 2020->2021, which was anomalous). To expect improvement at that level perpetually would be close to impossible – after 3 years of doubling market share from 2023’s 18% number, EVs would account for more than 100% of the global automotive market, which cannot happen.
Instead of the perpetual 50% CAGR that had been optimistically expected, we are seeing growth rates this year of ~10% in advanced economies, and higher in economies with lower EV penetration (+40% in “rest of world” beyond US/EU/China). Notably, this ~10% growth rate is higher than the above Norway example, which nobody would consider a “slump” at 94% market share.
It’s also clear that EV sales growth rates are being held back in the short term by Tesla, which has heretofore been the global leader in EV sales. Tesla actually has seen a year-over-year reduction in sales in recent quarters – likely at least partially due to chaotic leadership at the wayward EV leader – as buyers have been drawn to other brands, while most of which have seen significant increases in EV sales.
We got a Toyota bz4x (we got a very good deal on it, and I wouldn't recommend it unless you also get a good deal), and the official maintenance schedule is ridiculous and clearly unnecessary. Every 5k miles, you're intended to take it to the dealer to make sure the coolant is topped off, the wheel nuts are on tight, and the floor mats are in place. That's about it. And it'll pop up a "Maintenance Required" warning on the dash to tell you, and it stays there until you get it done.
I have 2 EVs (A Hyundai Kona and a BYD Seal), both don't check the battery coolant until 60,000 kilometers - either toyota doesn't trust their battery system or your dealer is taking you for a ride
It's official from Toyota's maintenance schedule. They're pretty obviously dumbing up things for dealerships, yes.
Everything on that list is needed in ICE cars as well - don't let them change the oil though, 5kmiles for oil changes is far too short and actually harmful to the engine (your least engine wear is around 8k miles on modern oils)
That information is also wrong. Your oil should be changed when it needs it. Almost every car I owned cooked the oil by 4000 miles... and only the Corolla could stretch to 7000. Full synthetic on every vehicle. Frequent oil changes only hurt your wallet, not the engine.
This is even more important on GDI and forced induction engines (my last two), which cook the oil faster due to the higher compression and temperatures the engines run at. When the oil is cooked, the additive package is broken down and the oil doesn't do the cool stuff (cleaning the engine, thickening when hot so it still lubricates) that keeps the engine happy. Also sludge.
For GDI, you need to regularly (before 12,000 miles) clean the intake valves, since the fuel systen does not. That'll hurt the engine more.