The Real Issue With EVs Is That They're Just Not Big Enough For Americans

“For a lot of people, that third row is the No. 1 reason for purchase,” says Jess Bala, director of global product planning at General Motors’ Cadillac brand, which is scheduled to reveal an electric Escalade IQ large SUV in August. “Those are often younger buyers who already are more interested in EVs.” [...]

Through June, the top three EV sellers in the U.S. were Tesla’s Model Y, a midsize SUV that offers a snug, optional third row; Tesla’s Model 3, a compact sedan; and GM’s Chevrolet Bolt, a small hatchback.

Buyers of those EVs tend to be early adopters—predominantly male—who are attracted by new technology. As automakers roll out bigger, family-oriented electrics, they have the chance to draw more female buyers, executives said.

For example, Kia expects women to account for about half the buyers of the EV9, a futuristic-looking three-row SUV set to go on sale in the fourth quarter. Kia’s EV6 customer base—a midsize SUV that competes directly with Tesla’s Model Y—is 75% men.

April Conyers is more concerned about the vehicle’s size than its range, after having a baby late last year. She and her husband own a smaller Volvo EV, but things have gotten a little snug with the second-row car seat. They recently put down a deposit on a Volvo EX90, a three-row electric scheduled to go on sale next year.

“We’ve run into some practical space issues that we hadn’t really thought about,” said Conyers, a 41-year-old communications consultant. “The electric cars that are offered today aren’t very big.”

Holger Klein, CEO of ZF Friedrichshafen, said young automotive brands such as Tesla, Nio, Xpeng and Lucid are pushing the old German supplier in a different way than traditional automakers.

“They have a different expectation on speed,” he said. “Speed is king.”

The emerging brands want ZF’s newest technologies as quickly as possible, even if some bugs haven’t been eliminated in development.

“If your latest innovation feature doesn’t work as reliably as you would expect from a German premium brand, it’s somehow OK,” he told Automotive News Europe during a recent roundtable discussion at the supplier’s headquarters here. “This happens when the customer wants a particular car and a particular function and is willing to accept some deficiencies.”

That urgency doesn’t mean that ZF is willing to compromise on its proven development processes or skip quality steps, Klein emphasized. It just means that ZF knows the newcomers will be tolerant.

“I think that makes many of them faster,” he said. “It is demanding to keep pace with this speed.”

French-Italian automaker Stellantis and South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI on Monday said they plan to open a second joint-venture plant in the U.S. to build electric vehicle batteries, with a target to start production in 2027.

The companies said the transaction still needs to be finalized, and where the plant will be located is under review. Also, how much will be invested at the site and how many people it will employ will be announced later. The plant will have an initial production capacity of 34 gigawatt hours (GWh).

“This new facility will contribute to reaching our aggressive target to offer at least 25 new battery electric vehicles for the North American market by the end of the decade,” Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said in a statement.

Stellantis, whose brands include Peugeot, Jeep, Ram, Alfa Romeo, Citroen and Opel, has announced plans to reach 100% electric passenger car sales in Europe and 50% car and light truck electric mix in the U.S. by 2030. To achieve that, it has said it wants to secure about 400 GWh of battery capacity.

The campaign set to launch Monday gives OnStar a new tagline — “Better Never Stops” — and includes a commercial promoting the brand as the link behind all of GM’s vehicle technology, from its Super Cruise hands-free driver-assist technology to real-time navigation.

Previously, OnStar used the tagline “Be Safe Out There,” which GM said will continue to be part of safety-related messaging.

Amid that transition, the automaker in recent years considered how it could help consumers understand what GM’s connected vehicle future will look like, said Laura Thornton, marketing director for GM’s digital business and OnStar. Consumers have begun to associate OnStar with in-vehicle technology generally, she said, and GM saw a role for OnStar as the “tech ingredient brand” inside its lineup that powers consumer experiences and creates value.

“This campaign is our first attempt at really reintroducing that brand role for OnStar,” Thornton said. “You’ll see a new look, a new design, a new messaging strategy, a different way to talk about the products in this space and kind of an underlying hint of innovation and technology and that electrification future that we have ahead of us.”