Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf
Other than wondering how people with sub-500 credit scores get those loans in the first place? And why? I mean, all the vehicles I've bought in my lifetime might not add up to $50K.
I don't think seeing people out of work is really going to motivate EV purchases, because they tend to be big-ticket purchases, even more so than ordinary new cars. What might motivate people is the recovery after the next crash, when they have money again but the memory of high gas prices is still fresh.
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This was part of a larger discussion titled Is "$4/gallon gasoline the tipping point for EV adoption?" on the Chevy Bolt forum.
I'm only speculating, but after the housing crash, banks were likely desperate to make up for their lack of profit in home loans, and looked toward other areas of lending. Since the vehicle itself is collateral, it may be a relatively small gamble to finance sub-prime auto loans, especially if they require money down on the loan and/or have high interest rates.
An EV likely has a lower cost of ownership over comparable ICE vehicles if it's owned for a very long time, like 10+ years. The problem is that new car buyers don't keep a car that long, and therefore cannot realize the lower cost of ownership of an EV. The question then is, would lower purchase price motivate people choose an EV over a comparable ICE?
My opinion is that consumers are very motivated by price and total cost of ownership, and the reply was an objection to that.