Went to the Drive Electric Earth Day 2021 in Las Vegas and mine was the only Clarity. The number of people showing interest in the Clarity was much higher than the last one they held. 66 vehicles with a total of 1,253,080 electric miles driven. I had decided that if the turnout and lack of interest was on a par with the first one I wouldn't go again, but the result this year will have me going back. Got a lot of good questions about electric miles, size, comfort, price, and had a few sit in it. A surprising number of people did not fully understand the tax credit and how inexpensive it made the car. I encouraged a few who were considering used to compare the used pricing to a new with the credit. Mostly Tesla (no surprise there), but my favorite was a 2002 Toyota RAV4 EV. The young man who owned it knew a lot about the history, design and cost ($48k). He found someone who rebuilt the chargers and it turned he was one of original engineers so he spent time to question the man. He said that only 300 survived because they crushed all the leased cars but not all the ones that were purchased.
I never understood why car companies would choose to destroy perfectly running cars - seems such a waste
Exactly. I remember helping a woman load sod into the back of one of these years ago and was just floored that it was electric. I wanted one, not realizing they were in such short supply. It seems like there was a start, stop, and then resurgence for EVs. At least in the cycle I’ve seen from ‘90s to now.
Cost to build/Price buyers will accept. Take this with a grain of salt as there were a number pf people there and I don't hear all that well, but I think he said it cost over $300,000 to build one (they were hand built) and they sold for $48,000. I think the companies were testing the waters to see the level of acceptance by consumers. BTW, he said they were nickel metal hydride batteries and the technology was bought up by an oil company and shelved.
