You have connected your electric vehicle to your home charger and hit the bag. During the night, the strong winds overthrow a power line. Your Nombrlle magazine. Then, a report of a fire, followed by an evacuation order. Your battery is only loaded at 25%. And it's your only car.
These are the fears that some California car buyers express in the middle of the fires that devastated the County of Los Angeles and forced people to evacuate their homes at any time.
A petrol car “can evacuate in any direction on any road while obtaining fuel if necessary,” said Matthew Butterick, a Los Angeles lawyer who lives near Griffith Park. “The EV stations on the evacuation tracks would have massive lines and delays, the petrol stations less. And the electricity network may not be available. Electricity companies deactivate power to avoid triggering a fire and also avoiding legal responsibility. It is probably the future of all districts on the hillside. »»
His feelings were taken over by Val Cipollone, who lives in the wooded hills above Berkeley. She has a Nissan Leaf, a complete electric vehicle with a fork of approximately 220 miles, which she plans to sell.
“Who knows how far you would have to drive” after a disaster, she said. “I thought I would only have to lead to my workplace. But, who knows, I may have to go much further. »»
To replace her EV, she said she would buy a hybrid car or a rechargeable hybrid. However, she will not consider a traditional petrol car. “It's a good conscience,” she said, citing the environment. “I wouldn't feel comfortable buying one.”
Aside, many buyers of potential cars are attentive to the concerns of Cipollone. While American sales of traditional fossil car and light trucks fall (compared to 17 million in 2015 to 12.9 million last year), electric vehicles and hybrids have taken off, but in the past two years, such as the growth of electric vehicles has slowed down, hybrids are in tears.
Hybrid sales increased by 63% in 2023 and 29% in 2024, to 1.8 million, according to the data company Edmunds. During the same years, electric vehicles increased by 34% and 13%, to 1.2 million. Not more recently than in 2022, American sales of electric vehicles increased by 45%.
Although electric vehicles may well come back to scorching growth as vehicles are decreasing and public loading networks are built, industry now seems to have exhausted the market for early adopters and must call on traditional buyers, said EDMUN analyst Jessica Caldwell.
Electric vehicles “require a different relationship with your vehicle that people have had previously. They require much more planning, “said Caldwell. This includes the implementation of a home charger, which sometimes requires an electrical upgrade; Calculation of routes for longer distance trips to find where the load is available; And the search for public chargers working when the load stations are blocked or the chargers are inoperable.
This can improve as a federal program of several billion dollars to install public chargers every 50 miles along the interstate highways has been built over the years. If California's plan to subsidize multifamilial housing chargers takes off and if these chargers are reliable – a large if – Electric vehicles could attract more buyers.
But for the moment, Caldwell said: “Many people are not ready to make a lifestyle change. They want to go green, but maybe they are not ready to go to the electrical test. »»
Veloz, a non -profit group pushing the adoption of electric vehicles, said in a press release that disasters will put “pressure on all infrastructure” and that zero emission vehicles are essential to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
“I think there is a certain value to have a hybrid when you have only one car,” said Margaret Mohr, director of communications at Veloz, in an interview. “However, they would not get all the advantages of an electric vehicle, and there will always be long lines at the petrol pump in an emergency.”
However, most large automotive companies hide their bets on full electricity. Ford has slowed down its EV deployments and accelerated the introduction of hybrid vehicles. (Already, more than 20% of Ford F-150 collection sales are hybrids.) Hyundai, including the Ioniq 5 and other electric cars at average prices are sold well, have recently introduced what he calls the Hyundai Way program, intended to offer a range of powertrain, by emphasizing hybrids and plug-in hybrids.
Hybrids are “a large part of our strategy,” said Randy Parker, newly appointed head of North American operations in Hyundai and Genesis Motor. Hyundai hybrid sales increased by 46% in 2024, while electric vehicles increased by 28%, he said. “We do our best to meet customers where they are,” said Parker. The company does not abandon electric vehicles, he said, predicting a return to faster growth “as consumers are more comfortable with the infrastructure”.
The battery of a traditional hybrid car works with the petrol engine to improve the mileage. The battery in a rechargeable hybrid can travel a certain distance on the battery alone.
Customers will have more choices in hybrid cars this year, said David Greene, analyst at Cars.com. A wave of new hybrid models is online in 2025, both hybrids and traditional plug-ins. (The two types are marrying a small car battery with an internal combustion engine, which leads to fewer emissions and better petrol mileage. A traditional hybrid does not need to be connected; it uses the petrol engine to recharge. But it cannot work alone on the battery. Exhausted and the combustion engine takes over, the travel distance for many buyers.)
Hybrid growth is mainly directed by Toyota, said Greene, not only the Prius line – the OG of hybrid cars – but also Camry, Highlander, Rav4 and other popular models. (In fact, Camry is only available with a hybrid powertrain.)
The effect that Los Angeles fires may have on the choices of the powertrain remains to be determined. “I don't think (fires) will have a mass effect” on electric vehicle sales, said Caldwell. However, some people will find a call for the idea that “you have your full fuel tank, you are out of there and you don't have to worry about filling 300 miles.”
Count the butter among them.
“I just fought my car,” he told Times where the sunset fire broke out in the Hollywood hills last week. “I would not want to evacuate in an EV.”
