Moving Past Hope and Hype

February 7, 2023 | Blog

We all read about states banning the internal combustion engine (ICE) and are told that most Americans want an EV.  That is all well and good, but we are also witnessing supply chain bottlenecks, rising costs for rare earth elements in the batteries, along with huge government incentives for US production.  Does this all come together producing a “hockey stick” increase in EV availability and sales?  Most hope so.

Modern management requires we move past hope.  We must keep track of relevant business metrics, if for no other reason to help us monetize costs and benefits as business conditions change.  As we do, it becomes imperative that the measurements are reliable, repeatable, accurate, and timely.

With that preamble, it is interesting to note that J.D. Power, a global leader in data analytics and consumer intelligence, just announced the introduction of their EV Index^SM.  It is an analytics tool tracking the growing US EV market. Each month, the index will arrive at one number (on a 100-point scale) making it easy to understand EVs’ progress to parity with traditional ICEs.

The sub-category numbers will represent all the roadblocks to parity. Today, the EV Index score is 47 (based on November 2022 data), with some categories improving and others declining during the 12-month pilot period. The EV Index score and accompanying analysis will be available monthly.

“Vehicle electrification has industry leaders grappling with billion-dollar decisions, and hyper-detailed data and analytics will help guide their decision making,” said Elizabeth Krear, vice president of electric vehicle practice at J.D. Power. “We’ve created a smart and dynamic way to capture how the EV marketplace is performing in relation to gas-powered vehicles, and the index provides a heightened level of detail never seen before in this arena.”

You can read all about it in their press release and get more details about the EV Index.