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Comment by thraway3837 | Hacker News Reader

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they aren't dumb at all, they count their dollars. they see cheap gas guzzlers, they buy them because they're cheap and gas is cheap. this is smart!

tax the gas guzzlers, tax gas, subsidize EVs and watch Americans rush to the dealerships to get EVs.

Is this really the case though? The average car payment an American pays was $750/month last I checked, and I believe that was in 2025. Americans are willingly want to pay this price for... mediocre cars. Like leather and massage upholstered trucks and fully loaded Lexus ES's. If people really wanted, they can get a 1 year old EV with 10k miles for 40% off MSRP. Or wait 2 years, 25k miles and get it for more than 50% off. But people won't because they think the battery is depleted.

That is correct. I think the alleged "dumbess" comes most from voting for the people that won't do the things you mentioned in your second paragraph.

But as I always say, it is not a property exclusive to US citizens. currently it looks like there is a drinking contest on which country will do the most ridiculous election result. The US started it but Germany said "halt meine Leberwurscht" and whent straigt to the top.

Why is everyone not understanding that good cheap EVs are banned in the US? If people actually got an experience a Chinese EV I dont think it would be nearly this bad.

Well, to be fair we Europeans kinda topped that by doing everything right and then in months killing all regulations that drove those things. #TechnologyOpenness

Look I'm very pro EV, but there are plenty of people for whom buying an EV would be the dumb decision. Most significantly, those who can't charge at home and have to rely on public charging. Yeah you can make that work, but you lose a significant portion of the benefits of an EV by doing so, to the point where an EV is no longer an obvious choice.

Of course 99% of EV drivers want another EV as their next car, since they're the people who presumably figured out that an EV would fit their needs. I'd be curious what the statistic would be if you gave everyone and EV and asked if their next car purchase would also be an EV. I bet it wouldn't be anywhere close to 99%.

If you want to expand EV market share, which I do, maybe spend more time figuring out how to make EVs work for more use-cases and less time assuming people who don't buy them are just dumb.

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