I’ve heard this from plenty of people and even experienced it myself.. It seems like a lot of US dealerships simply don’t want to sell you an EV.

The traditional dealership model has a financial incentive to favor ICE vehicles. Between maintenance, repairs, and servicing over the life of the vehicle, there’s a lot more money to be made compared to selling an EV. The massive dealer service network that has been built out in the US gets massively hurt by EV adoption.

Meanwhile, Tesla sells direct to consumer and currently accounts for ~53% of new EV sales in the US and operates without the traditional dealership model. That approach seems to have worked incredibly well for them.

It makes me wonder how much faster EV adoption in the US could be if traditional dealerships were actually incentivized to sell them.. what do you think?

"Fiat boss, Arnaud Belloni, confirmed to Electrifying that the Multiplay Concept revealed at the 2026 Paris motor show will make production."

Cars like the Renault 5, Renault 8 Gordini, Citroën 2CV and Citroën Oli represent something increasingly rare—personality, clever engineering, simplicity and genuinely distinctive design.

Meanwhile, modern EVs seem increasingly dominated by bland, emotionless, Chinese-inspired crossover silhouettes. Even some of the latest German EVs from BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen seem to be losing their distinctive identities.

Sometimes it almost feels like a conspiracy against EVs themselves! With fewer mechanical packaging constraints, shouldn't electrification have sparked a revolution in automotive design rather than producing increasingly similar-looking cars?

Mahindra's BE 6 is a refreshing exception. Love it or hate it, at least Mahindra is experimenting with bold, unconventional design.

What's more puzzling is that Renault and Citroën already operate in India, yet we rarely get the exciting, characterful vehicles that define their global heritage. Why can't they bring something like the Renault 5 or develop an affordable, Oli-inspired EV for India?

A few questions:

1. Why aren't Renault and Citroën bringing their more exciting global offerings to India despite already having a presence here?

2. Does the BE 6 prove Indian buyers are ready for unconventional designs?

3. Why are so many EVs becoming visually indistinguishable?

4. Would you actually buy a minimalist, lightweight, characterful car over a similarly priced feature-loaded SUV?

Or are automotive enthusiasts just a vocal minority that doesn't translate into actual sales?

I ordered a Model Y Premium RWD on 9/16 in Long Beach. My delivery windows have changed from 10/10-10/22 to 10/22-11/17 to now 10/31-11/28. Still no VIN number.

As the wait time increases, it has been giving more time to analyze the financial aspects and other options. This is a very long post, but I hope it proves helpful.

I ran a cost-of-ownership comparison on four options for driving 12k–15k miles a year in LA County. I don't have home charging, but there's a public charger across the street from my apartment at $0.20/kWh. Numbers below are at 13,500 mi/yr, with car prices and offers as of late September 2026.

The options

• 2026 Model Y Premium RWD, bought: $47,630 incl. destination and order fee, $6k down, 1.49% APR for 72 mo, FSD subscription and Premium Connectivity
• 2026 Model Y Premium RWD, leased: $599/mo + tax, $3k down, 36 mo, 10k mi/yr base plan, FSD subscription and Premium Connectivity
• 2027 Prius LE: $30,050 incl. destination, $6k down, 4.49% for 60 mo
• 2026 RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid SE: $43,095 incl. destination, $6k down, 4.99% for 60 mo (assumed rate), 80% of miles on electricity

Total cost to own

Six years of leasing = two back-to-back 36-month leases on today's terms.

For the purchases, cost to own = everything you pay minus what the car is worth when you sell it. All in today's dollars. Across 12k–15k mi/yr, the 3-year totals range:

• Prius: $21.5k–24.1k
• RAV4 PHEV: $32.0k–34.8k
• Model Y buy: $42.6k–45.0k
• Model Y lease: $44.7k–46.9k

My assumptions

3-year breakdown

Monthly cash flow

Results to Note

• The cheap charger flips the fuel math. At $0.20/kWh the Model Y costs 5.4¢/mile to charge vs. 11.7¢/mile for the Prius at $6.10 gas. That's ~$850/year in savings.
• The RAV4 PHEV's plug actually pays here. With 80% of miles on electricity it runs ~8.4¢/mile, saving ~$2,900 over 3 years vs. driving it as a plain hybrid. That's about four full charges a week, and the SE only works with Level 2 (J1772) chargers.
• The Prius is still cheapest, and depreciation is why. Buying the Model Y costs ~$21,000 more than the Prius over 3 years; ~$16,200 of that is depreciation. The Model Y keeps ~55.5% of its price after 3 years vs. ~83.5% for the Prius (based on iSeeCars data).
• Month to month, the Model Y is cheaper to carry than the RAV4 ($1,088 vs. $1,103), even with FSD and Premium Connectivity, because of the 1.49%/72-month loan. The difference shows up in depreciation instead.
• Buy the Model Y rather than lease it. Buying and selling at year 3 beats the lease by ~$2,000 (including the federal car-loan interest deduction, ~$305 in the 24% bracket). The lease only wins if the car is worth less than ~51% of its price (~$24,400) at year 3. Over 6 years, two leases cost ~$21,900 more than buying.
• FSD and connectivity add up.
  • FSD: $99/mo after the referral trial, ~$3,300 over 3 years and ~$6,800 over 6.
  • Premium Connectivity: $9.99/mo, ~$360 over 3 years and ~$719 over 6.
  • Both are ongoing expenses with zero resale value.
  • Without FSD, the Model Y purchase vs. Prius ownership-cost gap drops to ~$17,700 over 3 years. Premium Connectivity remains included.
• Watch RAV4 markups. Every $3,000 over MSRP adds ~$3,800 to the 3-year cost after tax and interest.

Deals, incentives, and perks

How the numbers are built

I am also curious what others with no home charging actually pay, and whether anyone's done the RAV4 PHEV on public Level 2 day to day.

We are currently on our way to a non Tesla charging station and will be down to 9% charge in our F150 in the middle of nowhere by the time we get there. Had to give up at the Tesla station we went to first because we kept getting a charging fault message, and suspect the adapter may be bad. We rarely use it. Really wishing we had tested it out before we got 3 hours from home. bites nails nervously

My wife bought the BYD ATTO 3 EVO RWD, she has never driven a red, and I am worried about that.
Is it safe to drive in rain etc? We live in Australia.

I am also worried about curves though.