High cost, low passion. What’s holding EV sports cars back
Although they became commonplace about 20 years ago, electric vehicles (EVs) have been around for a long time.
Ferdinand Porsche developed electric vehicles more than 125 years ago. There are few car manufacturers with a name as legendary as Porsche. Many of their sports cars are in such high demand that they often sell for well above MSRP. If any company could build an electric sports car that enthusiasts want to own, it would be Porsche. However, this is not the case, with sales of the Taycan dropping 22% last year.
Porsche is not alone in its struggle to find buyers for electric sports cars. Ferrari and Lamborghini are also delaying the launch of their electric sports cars. They are iconic manufacturers with millions of loyal fans around the world. You’d think buyers would be knocking on dealership doors by now to get their hands on an electric sports car built by Porsche, Ferrari or Lamborghini.
Electric vehicles can be incredibly fast. The 1,234-horsepower Lucid Air Sapphire can hit 60 mph in less than two seconds, run the quarter mile in nine seconds and have a top speed over 200 mph. Even the most jaded performance car enthusiast must admit that these numbers are staggering. The lack of demand for electric sports cars cannot be attributed solely to a lack of performance. In fact, it cannot be attributed to anything.
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Lack of emotion and commitment
Electric vehicles are fast, but speed and power are not enough
Electric vehicles have the speed and power, but not the emotion that a combustion sports car can offer. The noise and vibration of the engine, the ability to shift gears manually and the sound of the exhaust. These are attributes that car enthusiasts hold dear. Without these feelings, many enthusiasts simply aren’t interested.
Take the Dodge Charger Daytona for example. In 2024, Dodge has sold nearly 35,000 gas-powered Chargers. In 2025, they sold around 7,400 EV chargers. This represents a decrease of 79%. Dodge fans have shown little interest in the EV Daytona, even though Dodge has gone to great lengths to make it as attractive as possible.
They went so far as to develop a Fratzonic chamber exhaust that mimics the sound of a traditional HEMI V8 engine, and it actually sounds pretty convincing. You know it’s wrong, but it’s not the end of the world.
In The Matrix, there’s a scene where Cypher is enjoying a delicious steak that he knows isn’t real, but he doesn’t care because it tastes so good. Simulated exhaust noise is not a problem; neither does the empty weight of almost three tonnes. The problem is that Dodge may have made the car a little too good.
Dodge muscle cars were never light, nimble, quiet, or point-and-shoot machines. They are the opposite of the sports cars created by Lotus. Dodge muscle car owners know the limits; they know what they are getting into. What they care about is that the car is a little messed up. If you’re not careful, he’ll spit you out into the woods.
In the movie The Fast and the FuriousDom admits to never driving his father’s 1970 Dodge Charger R/T because it scares him. That’s what Dodge muscle is for. It has to be a little bad to be good. The EV is big, heavy, fast and sounds good, but it doesn’t have the muscle car advantage.
In a traditional Dodge muscle car, you step on the accelerator and all hell breaks loose. That’s what Dodge fans want, and Dodge delivers. Their brand ambassador program is called “Badassador”. Still, on the Charger Daytona EV, there’s a PowerShot mode and a Drift/Donut mode that might be a little too technical and cutesy for traditional muscle car fans.
Unlike the Chargers of the world, some sports car enthusiasts love the wind-in-the-hair feeling that can only come from a convertible. Mazda is a good example, having sold more than 1.2 million Miatas since 1989.
It is one of the most beloved sports cars of all time and the best-selling roadster of all time. It is neither the most powerful nor the fastest. But it has one of the best manual transmissions ever, and the manual soft top is a breeze to use. The term Jinba-ittai was coined during the development of the Miata. This translates to “horse and rider as one”. That’s the feeling you get behind the wheel of the Miata. There is currently no electric convertible on the market offering this type of interaction between driver and car.
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Not compatible with modifications
Electric vehicles don’t offer as many options
The appeal of an electric vehicle is that it has fewer moving parts and is therefore easier to maintain. But there is a downside to this. People love modifying their vehicles. By 2024, the global automotive modification market was worth more than $60 billion.
The options for modifying an electric vehicle are limited. Of course, you can wrap it, install new wheels, add a body kit and change the suspension. But gas cars offer many more options. Everything from simple air filters to LS swaps are open to owners of gasoline performance cars. Installing a new exhaust, headers, cams, and turbos are all part of the sports car experience. Electric vehicle owners are largely excluded.
Go to any car show, from the local Cars and Coffee to a major Concours d’Elegance, and what do you see? Lots of cars with their hoods up. When you walk around these shows, you’ll hear people asking something like “what’s in there?” all the time. To which the owner is only too happy to explain that the engine started out as a Chevy 350 but is now a 383 stroke with a four-bolt prime mover, forged connecting rods and pistons, hydraulic roller camshaft, etc.
If an electric vehicle is present at the same show with the hood up, you assume that it is just taking its lunch out of the trunk. The electric vehicle may have a custom body kit and cool aftermarket wheels, but you won’t discuss the batteries and electric motors because no one modifies them.
High MSRP, Repair Costs, and Range Anxiety
Three bad news for car buyers
According to a 2025 AAA study, interest in purchasing an electric vehicle has fallen to its lowest level since 2019. Only 16% of U.S. adults say they are “very likely” or “likely” to purchase an electric vehicle as their next vehicle. Some of the most commonly cited reasons for lack of interest were high battery repair costs, range anxiety, and the perceived inconvenience of using an electric vehicle for a long trip.
There’s no doubt that respondents to the AAA study have been paying attention to the market and seeing that electric vehicles are expensive (and especially now that federal tax credits have expired). Beyond the purchase price, there is depreciation to consider. A study by iSeeCars showed that electric vehicles lose the most value after purchase, dropping almost 60% in five years.
Let’s take Porsche as an example. A Porsche 911 with a combustion engine only loses 19.5% of its value after five years. This equates to an average loss of $24,428. The Porsche Taycan EV loses 60.1% of its value after five years. This equates to an average loss of $59,691. Losing another $35,000 in depreciation is a blow to the wallet that no sports car buyer wants to experience.
Enthusiasts will buy EV sports cars once they offer everything they want
Considering all of the above, the EV sports car needs to fundamentally change. They need to become cheaper and not depreciate as quickly. Infrastructure must evolve to make charging faster, easier and more convenient. Solid-state batteries could go a long way toward making electric vehicles more attractive to enthusiasts as well as the general car-buying public. They can increase battery life and reduce charging times.
Simulated gear changes and engine sounds are a start in terms of driver enjoyment, but the technology to make an electric vehicle more appealing needs improvement. In addition to technological advances, we need to see the emergence of enthusiast models, such as convertibles. Today, many traditional sports cars aren’t always practical and efficient, and that’s okay because they offer a ton of fun. Electric vehicles need to up their fun quotient. If/when that happens, enthusiasts will notice and be ready to add an EV sports car to their garage.
