Senator Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield) and Representative Adam Neylon (R-Pewaukee) circulated a bill earlier this week that would allow for a direct sales business model of electric vehicles (EVs). If passed, EV manufacturers could sell their vehicles directly to consumers, either online or from a manufacturer-owned dealership, rather than through the traditional dealership model we know today.
The Kooyenga/Neylon Bill is key to increasing EV adoption and is a much-needed policy to overcome a free market barrier. It would permit Wisconsin’s consumers greater access to EVs that better suit their financial and driving needs by allowing them to purchase online or directly from the manufacturer-dealership.
Consumer purchasing power is especially relevant when considering increased demand in the electric vehicle market. Edmunds predicts the U.S. will experience record EV sales in 2021, while Bloomberg projections demonstrate increased demand in the coming decades, with a projected 54 million EV sales in 2040. Even here in Wisconsin, we can expect anywhere from 25%-50% EV adoption by 2050[1]. Adopting the Kooyenga/Neylon bill would give consumers more EV purchasing options, granting direct access to their electric vehicle models of choice as EV demand continues to climb and more models become available.
Online consumer spending increased over the past year, and most consumers prefer a portion of their vehicle purchasing decisions to be online. The virtual EV marketplace is expected to grow alongside a rapidly growing EV market, lending greater free-market support for the Kooyenga/Neylon bill.
At any rate, aren’t the purchasing decisions of Wisconsin’s consumers better left to them? The free market says so, and this is exactly what the Kooyenga/Neylon bill would allow.
For more information, please contact Jeremy Orr at (608) 210-1428 or jeremy@renewwisconsin.org.
[1] Plug-In Electric Vehicle Analysis of Wisconsin, RENEW Wisconsin and University of Wisconsin-Madison Energy Analysis and Policy Capstone Project, May 2019.