Musk: Great salesman. Tesla: Least capable automaker?

scottf200 said:

The difference is people are clamoring for the Model 3.

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In lots of areas of north america people are falling over themselves for the Bolt as well. The difference is that GM, in their apparent infinite stupidity this last summer, was happy to stockpile cars in places where they weren't moving, whilst starving areas where they are in such hot demand that people were waiting MONTHS to even get anything that showed up on the lot.

To this day, send a Bolt to pretty much anywhere in Canada and it won't survive but a few days on the lot. Most are sold before they even get there. People at local dealerships are still waiting between 4 to 6 months if they want anything custom.

People in Quebec (where EV penetration is very high) can't wait to get their hands on them.

But alas, for some reason, GM still wants to stockpile them in lots in California instead of shipping them to places with high demand.

Now, it seems they've pretty much achieved their 30,000/year target and are looking to ramp up production.

DonC said:

As for getting Canada more allocation, that's easy: REQUIRE ZEV CREDITS.

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Don't think there's anything that incentivizes manufacturers at this point, but here in Ontario a full (New, not used) BEV or PHEV with a big enough battery (Volt sized or larger, basically) gets a $14,000 rebate back from the provincial government. They'll also pay for 50% of the cost of a qualifying EVSE and installation up to $1500 or something like that.

So, the government incentives are there, no question, it's just stock that's a problem. I have a big discussion at a different non EV forum that's ballooned to about 100 pages (2000 replies, and 60,000 views) where I documented my EV adventure from the initial musing, through our first Volt purchase, and to current day with 2 of them.

By my last count about 6 others in the thread have since jumped on the EV bandwagon and bought their own because of the discussion, and seeing the real facts vs the usual media/facebook rhetoric.

That said, actually FINDING cars has been a challenge. One guy stumbled across a Bolt that I think he said was only available because the deal with the initial seller fell through. Another few bought used Volts like I did. One fellow wanted an EGolf but was told it was a months long wait, so he bought a Kia EV instead and seems to be loving it.

But actually FINDING them up here is the issue.

There's another guy who's more or less been relentlessly trashing EV's in that thread who now brags he has a reservation on a Model3, but that's another story LOL.