According to news on December 11, car dealers in many areas across the United States said that the sales of electric vehicles have become increasingly difficult because consumers are worried about the range, reliability and price of electric vehicles. Paul LaRochelle, vice president of Sheehy Auto Stores, was excited about the prospects for his business when he heard that Ford was about to launch an electric pickup truck.

"We thought we could make a million of these cars and sell them," LaRochelle said. Sheila Auto Stores sells more than a dozen brands and operates in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

However, the actual situation is not so optimistic. LaRochelle said the company has an inventory of electric cars in its parking lot that lasts six to 12 months, while gasoline cars only have enough to sell out in a month.

Automakers plan to launch a slew of new electric vehicles in the coming years. But with many consumers still reluctant to switch to electric vehicles, car dealers are increasingly concerned about whether the technology will be attractive enough.

Car dealers say that as U.S. electric vehicle sales growth slows this year, pure electric vehicle inventory has accumulated. While automakers have been stimulating demand with discounts and incentives such as low-interest car loans, dealers say it's not enough because consumers are worried about more than just price.

"I'm not hearing consumer confidence in the technology," said Mary Rice, owner of a Toyota dealership in Greensboro, North Carolina. "People are not actively buying these cars yet. They all have different excuses not to buy them."

Auto dealers say consumers are either worried about EVs running out of charge more quickly in cold weather or about their range on a single charge. Others worry that charging piles are not as common as gas stations and are more likely to break.

Many car brand franchisees are worried that manufacturers' continuous introduction of new electric car models will increase the number of vehicles in their inventory. Market research firm S&P Global Mobility said there are 56 electric vehicles on sale in the U.S. market this year, and that number is expected to nearly double to 100 next year.

"I started thinking, you know, maybe we all should slow down a little bit," Rice said.

A group of dealers expressed their concerns about how the U.S. government is promoting the electric vehicle business in a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden last month.

A Toyota spokesman said that most dealers are "increasingly confident in their ability to sell Toyota electric vehicles."

A Ford spokesman said sales of electric vehicles such as the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck are rising, but demand is uneven across the country.

Car dealers say that after selling an electric car, they sometimes hear complaints about charging and the car's inability to achieve the advertised range. In some cases, buyers request to return the car shortly after taking delivery.

"We have a fair number of customers who want to return their cars," said LaRochelle of Sheila's Auto Shops.

Although electric vehicles have been small and growing rapidly in the new car market in previous years, the growth rate this year has slowed year-on-year. According to data from market research company Motor Intelligence, electric vehicle sales increased by 48% in the first 11 months of this year, compared with a 69% increase in the same period in 2022. Data from S&P Global Mobility shows that electric vehicle sales are still concentrated in a few states, with California having the largest sales.

Cooling growth in electric vehicles has drawn attention to whether automakers face temporary obstacles or long-term demand challenges. Automakers have invested tens of billions of dollars to bring more electric vehicles to the market. Many analysts and auto executives say they remain optimistic that sales of electric vehicles will continue to grow.

"Despite the recent slowdown, electric vehicle demand is clearly moving in the right direction," GM Chief Executive Mary Barra said on a recent earnings call. More affordable models and better charging infrastructure could help spur more consumers to buy electric vehicles, she said.

Dealers also have mixed views on how quickly buyers will embrace the technology. In areas popular with electric vehicles, such as Los Angeles, dealers say all-electric vehicles are the best-selling models. Many EV markets that are popular with consumers also tend to have more established public charging networks.

But selling electric cars outside of those markets has also proven more difficult.

Carmella Roehrig, who had been using an electric car for a long time, decided she was ready and sold her other gas car. But last year, the 62-year-old North Carolina resident changed his mind after getting stranded in a remote area of ​​South Carolina. The Tesla Model S that Rolig was driving had a flat tire, but no local store had Tesla tires. Eventually, she paid a worker at a nearby store to tow the car home.

Roehrig still has her Tesla but bought a gas-burning pickup truck for long road trips.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

"I talked to some people who said we're going to be all electric cars in 15 years. I said, 'I'm not so sure. I've tried that,'" Roehlig said. "I think you still need a car."

Mickey Anderson, president of Baxter Auto Group, which owns car dealerships in Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado, said customers who want to ditch gasoline vehicles for environmental reasons are sometimes hesitant.

"We have a presence in the Colorado Springs market. If that's your only form of transportation and you're in an area with extreme elevation and temperature, the actual range of an electric vehicle is very limited," Anderson said. "That makes it extremely impractical."

In November this year, about 4,000 car dealers across the United States signed a joint letter to U.S. President Biden, stating that the vehicle emission regulations proposed by the U.S. government to promote the sales of electric vehicles are unrealistic. The letter was signed by both family-owned companies and publicly traded giants such as AutoNation and Lithia Motors.

"There are customers in the market for electric vehicles, and we are excited to sell electric vehicles," the letter said. "But most customers are simply not ready to make the change."

Some automakers are delaying planned releases of electric vehicles. In mid-October this year, General Motors said it would postpone the opening of its electric pickup truck factory by one year to the end of 2025. In response to lower-than-expected consumer demand, Ford Motor Co. said at the end of October this year that it would postpone the implementation of its $12 billion electric vehicle investment plan.

According to data from the car sales website Edmunds, it has taken car dealers an average of more than two months to sell an electric car since September this year, while the average sales time for all cars in the United States is 40 days.

Auto dealers say that while discounts help boost sales of some electric vehicles, they also hurt owners of the same brand of electric vehicles because the discounts reduce the value of their cars.

"Most people don't have the confidence to buy an electric car and don't know what it will be worth in 10 to 15 years," said Rice, a Toyota dealer.

LaRochelle of Sheila Auto Shops said the auto industry may take some time to adjust because it's still in the early stages of the shift to electric vehicles. He said, "We hope that this market will grow naturally." (Chenchen)