Feb. 22--With national gas prices hovering under $2 per gallon, sales of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids have stalled.
Sales of plug-ins were down more than 5 percent in 2015, compared with 2014, according to insideevs.com, and account for less than 1 percent of annual vehicle sales in the U.S. Moreover, gas engines are more fuel efficient than ever, and crossovers, SUVs and pickups look all the more enticing when you can fill them up for less than 40 bucks.
Despite this, automakers are rolling out more and more electrified cars that help meet corporate average fuel economy targets of 54.5 mpg (or an adjusted real-world value of about 40 mpg that we see on Monroney new-car stickers) by 2025.
The hidden truth of electrified vehicles is that they're fun to drive. No gear shifting, no turbo lags, just pure torque.
The decision on whether to buy an electric vehicle is not simple. They cost more than gasoline vehicles, they take hours to charge up, and they have a limited range, most often under 100 miles. Plug-in hybrids typically have a shorter all-electric range, but have a gas generator or gas engine that can drive the car the same distance as a conventional gas engine car.
Federal tax credits ranging from $2,500 to $7,500 (depending on battery size) soften the blow to the wallet.
But the federal credit and state rebates are subject to the prevailing political winds. In 2015, the state of Illinois suspended its $4,000 electric vehicle tax rebate years after pledging to lead the charge on plug-in car infrastructure. The state will still cover 50 percent of the cost of installing a Level 2, 240-volt charger, up to $3,000.
All-electric vehicle-maker Tesla and its two models in production, the Model S performance sedan and Model X three-row crossover, exceed 200 miles in range but can also exceed $100,000.
BMW will have a plug-in variant of every model in the next few years, starting with the X5 xDrive40e plug-in SUV, and the forthcoming 330e. Mercedes-Benz will have at least 10 plug-ins by 2017, ranging from the extant B-Class and S-Class plug-ins to crossovers and possibly vans.
