In what way does President Biden resemble an electric car? One thing is that they both need breaks to go very far. But young people are also losing hope in both of them more and more.
According to a new poll by McKinsey & Co., 57% of American millennials who own electric cars say they are likely to switch back to a gas-powered car. Some of the main reasons are that EVs are hard to charge at home, hard to charge while driving, and expensive to own.
People with kids were more likely than others to say they wished they had not bought an EV. It was not as good for older EV buyers. It is possible that young people did not fully think through the costs and problems of having an EV, just like they did not fully think through the policy effects of a Biden president. They feel the effects of both more than older people do.
Take a look at this: EV insurance costs $44 more a month on average than gas-powered car insurance. Part of the problem is that parts and repairs are getting more expensive. Because of rising electricity costs over the past few years (thanks, Mr. Biden), expected fuel saves have not happened. A study by the Anderson Economic Group found that most gas-powered cars are cheaper to run than electric cars.
You might be shocked to learn that it costs several thousand dollars to change the wires in your home to fit an already expensive charger. You will have to charge at business stations, where rates are higher, if you do not own your own home. It can also be hard to find one that works that is free.
It might take more than 10 hours to fully charge a battery, but charging it above 80% of its capacity speeds up the wear and tear. Not very helpful when you have to drive your kids from one activity to another. Seniors who own their own homes and do not have a lot of other things to do find charging easier.
Another thing is that EVs lose their worth faster than gas-powered cars. This is partly because their batteries break down more quickly. Just getting new batteries can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Also, there are so many new and used EVs on the market right now that their resell prices have dropped sharply.
Used EV prices have dropped 30% to 39% in the past year, which is about 10 times as much as used gas-powered cars. A young investment banker told me a few years ago that the Tesla he had just bought was a good investment because the value of it would go up because of inflation. Not a smart bet.
"It is clear that used-car shoppers will no longer pay more for electric vehicles. In fact, they will see electric powertrains as a detractor, which will make them less desirable and less valuable than traditional models," says Karl Brauer, an expert at iSeeCars, an online car community.
Mr. Biden says he is responsible for lowering inflation. That does not seem likely, but his administration's de facto EV requirement may have pushed down prices by making too many cars on the market. Used car costs have gone down this year because EVs are losing value quickly. This has caused the overall inflation rate to go down as well.
For seniors, falling EV selling prices do not matter as much because they are happy with their cars and Mr. Biden's policies. Fox News polled last week and found that 60% of voters under 35 do not like Mr. Biden, while only 45% of voters over 65 do.
Most young people said Donald Trump would be better at running the economy, dealing with the war between Israel and Hamas, being mentally healthy, and bringing back safety and normality. Even though Mr. Trump is not steady, there is no denying that prices were more stable and there was less social and world unrest while he was in office.
Seniors, on the other hand, liked Mr. Biden better than anyone else in every way. Why is this difference there? People over 65 may just find Mr. Trump's rudeness more annoying. But they have also gained more from the fast rise in home and other asset prices during Biden's presidency. On the other hand, fewer of them have had their real wages fall because of inflation. People in their golden years are often moving, while young people feel like they are stuck in one place.
Most young Americans can not buy a house, and a lot of them are having a hard time finding work. The share of people working to people aged 20 to 24 is now 65.3%, down sharply from 68.2% before the pandemic. Unemployment for all workers was 3.7% in March, but 4.7% for college graduates between the ages of 22 and 27. This was about the same rate as in the fall of 2008.
This is an unusual event in history. Young college graduates have regularly had higher jobless rates than the rest of the population only for the past two years. At the same time, serious auto and credit card debt among people aged 18 to 39 is getting close to levels last seen during the slump of 2008–2009.
For young people, Biden's leadership is costing them more in terms of money and their prospects than they thought it would. Is it a surprise that a lot of people want to vote for Mr. Trump again?
