What "other" BEVs are for sale in Ohio?

[jdunmyer]

The question is in the title. A friend (who is convinced that EVs are absolutely not for him) seems to think that BEVs are available from the major auto manufacturers "anywhere". I'm thinking that compliance cars are sold in California and a few other places, but not in Flyover Country. I actually challenged him to visit a Ford dealer and try to by an electric car. (Not including PHEVs)

Who's right?

 

[WetEV]

The question is in the title. A friend (who is convinced that EVs are absolutely not for him) seems to think that BEVs are available from the major auto manufacturers "anywhere". I'm thinking that compliance cars are sold in California and a few other places, but not in Flyover Country. I actually challenged him to visit a Ford dealer and try to by an electric car. (Not including PHEVs)

Who's right?

Ford did sell the Focus Electric nationwide, but that ended that before 2018. And there isn't a 2019 Focus Electric.

i-MiEV was sold nationwide. Discontinued. A cross between a jetson and Flintstone car, made for munchkins.

Chevy Bolt, Nissan LEAF, BMW i3, Jaguar I Pace, Tesla S, 3, X, VW e-Golf, Smart EV... I think that's it for nationwide right now. Some states don't have dealers for all of these brands, and some dealers are not "EV qualified". So you might have a problem with some of these in some places.

Hyundai Ioniq electric is/was "special order everywhere", but reported to be almost impossible to get even in California. Hyundai Kona Electric seems the same, at least so far.

I think I've missed a few, but are rare and hard to get.

Audi e-tron is supposed to go nationwide in May...

Other cars rumored for this year, next year, and so on.

 

[cwerdna]

Hyundai Ioniq electric is/was "special order everywhere", but reported to be almost impossible to get even in California..

Ioniq Electric was for the longest time virtual vaporware and So Cal only. Eventually, it did spread to a bunch of CARB emissions states, but only in the past maybe 6 months or so... (memory foggy)

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=547330#p547330 was a report from someone in PA.

Vehicles with a full battery icon at https://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/ should be all the BEVs currently for sale in the US, except maybe 1 or 2, due to lag. But not all will be available outside CA or CARB emissions states.

Examples of vehicles w/very limited availability in terms of states:
https://www.fiatusa.com/2019/500e.html - CA and OR only, I believe
https://automobiles.honda.com/clarity-electric - says right there "Clarity Electric is currently only available to residents of California and Oregon through select Honda dealerships."
https://www.vw.com/models/e-golf/section/hide/ - https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1117684_vw-egolf-in-very-short-supply-as-company-prepares-for-id-crozz-electric-car from mid-2018 says

VW spokesman Mark Gillies told CarsDirect that the e-Golf is still on sale in select markets that have adopted California's ZEV requirements. They include California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington D.C.

Ten cars for 10 states still seems extremely sparse, especially when most of those 10 cars are probably in California.

Even the Bolt has availability issues. One guy in Frackville, PA on another forum says the Chevy dealer he'd been going to for over 32 years doesn't have any Bolts. When he asked a few years ago, he was apparently the 1st to ask. I asked him in Sept 2018 about whether there's been any change at that dealer. Answer: no.

 

[WetEV]

VW e-Golf is available in WA, but not Colorado or Ohio. Almost 1000 sold so far this year...

WA is not a CARB state, so we don't get the CARB only cars.

 

[jdunmyer]

Even the Bolt has availability issues. One guy in Frackville, PA on another forum says the Chevy dealer he'd been going to for over 32 years doesn't have any Bolts. When he asked a few years ago, he was apparently the 1st to ask. I asked him in Sept 2018 about whether there's been any change at that dealer. Answer: no.

I bought my '17 Bolt in December of 2017, I think the build date is August of '17. The dealer knew nothing about the car, but ordered it for me through their other dealership. Even though not exactly In Stock, it didn't take long to get it. I'm almost bet that even the 'Mother' dealership hasn't sold another. FWIW: I'm in far SE Michigan, and probably should have gone across the line into Ohio; Dave White Chevrolet has a Bolt in stock right now and also has a Bosch 20 Kw fast charger outside their service department, free to use.

Looks like we have a ways to go.....

 

[cwerdna]

Regarding the Frackville, PA guy, I hope he doesn't mind me reposting part of what he wrote. It's accessible via a forum where you can see it all via a free account. It's just that the sub-area isn't open to indexing or viewing w/o being logged in.

I was just at my local Chevy dealer that I have been going to for 32 years and I asked the owner if he was getting any Bolts. The answer is no as I was the first customer who inquired about one. He did tell me that it will cost him a little over $100,000 investment in the service department. He has to have one service bay, one service tech trained for the Bolt, and various tools and equipment to work on the Bolt. It is the tools and equipment that his holding him back as it would make no sense to buy all that if no one is interested in the vehicle.
He was not surprised that I was the first one to ask about the Bolt. He mentioned it to his wife a few months ago that he bet that when I come in for inspection that I would inquire about one.
....
Those that work in the sales department all talked the Bolt down but I suspect that tone will change if the demand started to go up for these vehicles. Heard the various excuses like they like the power and roar on the internal combustion engine when you step on the throttle.

 

[jdunmyer]

FWIW: I did an inventory search for both the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Bolt. Turns out that the Toledo-area dealers seem to have some in stock: At least 3 Toledo Chevy dealers show a Bolt, all of the LT trim level, and the Leaf is available in Toledo and Ann Arbor. The AA dealer has always had several Leafs in stock, guessing because of the UofM campus and their progressive politics. Some of the Leafs include the new one with the 62Kwhr battery.

It's still surprising to me that there isn't more availability of BEVs, given all the hype lately. My buddy says that he's seen some ads on TV, but I miss those because of my TiVo use.

The only non-Tesla high power charger in the area that I know of is the 20KW unit at Dave White Chevrolet. Yark NIssan has at least 1 Level 2 charging station outside, available all hours, and free to use.