In the UK a Renault Zoe is about 30% cheaper than a Tesla Model 3 and is smaller and more urban. I.e. more in line with most cars you see everywhere in Europe.
It is also possible to lease the battery instead of buying it along with the car, which seems to be a popular option (although it seems they've removed the option, apparently).
The UK also has London with the congestion charge. EVs are exempt from the £15 per day charge. That works out at a £3750 'saving' over 50 5-day weeks in a year. Combine that with the incentives to buy an electric car, finance schemes to spread payment and the benefits of EV (lower fuel price) and you wonder why more people in the suburbs are not buying EVs. Sure you see some but not that many. Money is not the problem given how many expensive German cars are on the streets.
There is still range anxiety so anyone with an EV and living in London's suburbs will still want an ICE car for when they visit the relatives in the shires or go to their weekend retreat. The Zoe lacks in that area due to range. Meanwhile the Tesla offerings also fall short due to their size which is not what you want on country lanes or in city centres.
Parking at home and on-street charging is a problem so having an ICE and an EV is not practical in the way that it might be in a typical US city. There simply isn't enough space on the street.
Then there is public transport. This is good in London and out to the suburbs, you would want to get the train/Tube to get into London if you had an ounce of common sense, taking a car in is just silly.
The UK is not just London but then it is. There isn't a lot of money to go around in most regions. Plus commutes can be long, too long for range anxiety. Then the people with the money - the boomers - are sceptical about EVs. The UK is therefore going to be stuck with lousy ICE cars for a long time to come.
> That works out at a £3750 'saving' over 50 5-day weeks in a year.
Since the congestion charge is only for central London, this assumes people are driving into the very centre of London every day, which I don't think many people do. Certainly not most people who live in London suburbs.
A Zoe is a nice city car that sells well but only as a second car. It does not compete with the Model 3 which does replace ICE vehicles as a main car. You simply wouldn't do a cross-country trip in a Zoe -- say, from Belgium to the French Riviera -- so most families would need another vehicle (ICE, PHEV or long-range & fast charging Tesla).
They just don't share the same market. EV compete with ICEs alternative more than they compete with each others.
From what we see on European roads it's quite common for people in Belgium and the Netherlands to drive to Southern Europe for the summer holidays.
Usually these are big wagon cars, though because they need to fit the family and luggage in there. So I think that people will stick to ICE until there are family-sized EV with the range and the price range. Teslas are not really an option at the moment, IMO.
I don't doubt that _some_ people do it, but I would seriously doubt that everyone, or anything approaching everyone, does it. This would imply a much smaller market for small cars than actually exists.
So, yeah, the Zoe wouldn't be suitable for those people, but it might be suitable for people who buy small cars anyway (which is most of the market, AFAIK).
Obviously a lot of people take the train or fly. I'm just saying that a lot of people drive, as well. I'm not sure EVs are ready for this sort of trip in any case.
How often do people do a cross continental trip of 1000km+? Like honestly.
Same argument I heard back in the day on why so many buy estates instead of hatchbacks “in case I move a cupboard”. Like how often does that happen in life?
I'm a Parisian who have never owned a car, so that's what I've always done.
But there are just no EV to rent anywhere in France. The ones you you find on Getaround, Ouicar or other peer to peer renting sites cannot actually be rented (owners always reject the inquiry upon request -- probably a trick by the website operator to get people to at least request some cars and get an ICE anyway).
It seems to not be true anymore. I checked last week to rent a car in France for the holidays, and all the cheapest options for small urban cars were EV (mostly Zoe).
Note that I only checked for big renting companies (Sixt, Enterprise, ...). I was very surprised!
Many people have Zoe-sized cars as their main car. People rarely do cross-country trips. I'm not sure I would buy an EV at all if I were planning Belgium to South of France trips.
But even as a second car, the segment Zoe caters for is exactly the best one for EV in Europe, IMHO.
It seems to me that at the moment Teslas are for wealthy people who want to display "Tesla cool" more than a practical choice.
I guess most people in need of an utalitarian Family car for longer trips buy an ICE for cost vs. utility reasons, even if they consider a Zoe as the second car for daily commutes/shopping.
There are simply no affordable electric family cars in most European markets. By affordable I mean in the range of regular income families - most families don't have the money to spend twice the price just to have an electric car. Of course this is not true for heavily subsidized markets.
I can understand someone leasing the entire car, battery included.
And I can understand someone buying a car outright.
What I can't understand is why someone would want to buy a car outright, but still end up paying a lease on the battery. To me, that doesn't have the benefits of either option.
People have been worried about EV's batteries in terms of lifespan, loss of charge, maintenance, etc. The option to lease the battery was a way to alleviate that worry, IMO.
That's true but you can always lease the entire car. If you only lease the battery you can't just let the lease expire because you still have to find a new owner for the car and if the car has a reputation of needing battery replacements then you might have trouble finding a buyer.
It is also possible to lease the battery instead of buying it along with the car, which seems to be a popular option (although it seems they've removed the option, apparently).