They are probably people that were already looking or anbout to start looking for a new car and pivoted to EV based on current conditions.

Maybe. The average driver is spending just under $200 per month now on gas (14000 miles per year at 20mpg, gas $3/gallon - you can adjust numbers as you want, these are reasonable but some cars better fuel ecconomy) if you drive more than average it is possible to make payments on fuel savings in some cases.

or in my case the old car was going to be replaced anyway. Paymets were a given, so saving over $100 a month in fuel was a nice bonus. There are a lot of people who are buying something different anyway who care about their budget.

People whose car died at the worst time (because my personal situation) but also at the best time (because of the Iran war / oil situation). We really needed a new car fast and before our old car really broke down we were looking at either a hybrid or EV version of a certain car. The attack on Iran and its ripple effects simply tipped the balance towards the EV. I knew this bs wasn’t going to go away in a few days but we were fast enough to get one for the price it was before the war. I was already really looking forward to driving oil-free, so I think it’s been a good decision. No debt either.

Car are always being bought and sold. Some people jump from car to car every few years; I’ve known people who always lease precisely because they trade what they have every year or two for something new.

I’ve been an EV driver for the last few years; my brother called today to tell me he had just bought a used Bolt for his wife. As things happened one of his grown children had their car completely fail on them this week, and so he and his wife decided to buy themselves a new car so they could sell the old one for cheap to their child. With gas prices as they are they found a gently used Bolt EUV. They pick it up this weekend.

So in their case they didn’t go out and buy a car just because gas prices were up — but the decision between gas and EV was triggered by the price of gasoline.

You have to imagine that there’s always someone who is right in the middle of the car purchasing process and perhaps on the fence about which way to go. A sudden change in circumstances can influence which way things fall. There may also be people who’ve been thinking about switching who suddenly feel convinced it’s the right choice and go take the plunge.

Basically people are out there primed to make a choice already and this just tips them one way.

We had been waiting for a while just because there was no reason to replace our car-payment-free household with a car payment before one of the vehicles crapped out…

…But to be honest we’d wanted an EV for almost a decade at this point.

I test drove my first EV back in maybe 2015… but couldn’t justify the price tag at the time to buy a new one, so we went with a cheap used car with high MPG and relatively low mileage overall.

It’s just now that for the first time, it makes sense - not just from a “gas is expensive” standpoint, but from a “this might be cheaper than maintaining an older car (100k+ miles, 15+ years old)…” and also a “gas might not just be expensive but unavailable at some point given the supply shock currently wreaking havoc in other places besides the US” standpoint…

We like to plan for contingencies whenever it makes sense to do so.

We just bought our first ever EV - a used 2021 model with <50k miles for less than half the price of a brand new model… and it’s amazing.

Already calculated that just in the few times we’ve charged it since buying - with gas being almost $4/gal… we have spent <$5 in electricity with just a little 120v (thanks @jjj4211) wall adapter (level 1) at only 70% efficiency to add roughly 250 miles of range.

That equates to roughly $40 in gas… even with the high-MPG car.

On top of that, being able to start it in a parking lot or even an indoor garage to cool it down in the summer or warm it in the winter before having to get in or worry about filling an enclosed space with carbon monoxide, a quieter drive, and just more modern conveniences and safety features thanks to it just being a decade newer than our last vehicle made it seem like a somewhat sensible purchase for us, if not perhaps a little “overly pro-active.”

The EV demand changes reflect the population that is currently looking for a new car (have the money and are willing to buy) and people were previously "on the margin", those who weren't looking to buy a car immediately (more like sometime in the next 6-18 months), but due to fuel price changes they have now moved into the first group.

My best friend is running around in a 2004 Chevy gas guzzler because its what hes got. Hes been thinking about getting a hybrid or electric. Now that gas is $5 a gallon and his work commute is 30 minutes both ways hes getting pushed to change vehicles. He doesnt even like his SUV

I just got a used ev. I needed something else because my car was having issues that would be expensive to fix, and wanted an ev anyway, so the decision wasn't at all motivated by gas prices, even though the timing was. I didn’t want to wait and have used car prices skyrocket to the point i couldn't afford one.