EV makers punted on the Super Bowl

Why automakers were unusually quiet on Sunday.

A Hyundai Santa Fe, one of the gas-powered cars featured on Super Bowl Sunday. Credit: Hyundai

With over 123 million people tuning in on Sunday, the Super Bowl was the most-watched event of the year. Not surprisingly, it’s also the biggest day for advertisers. 

So what companies choose to (or choose not to) say during a Super Bowl commercial says a lot about their priorities. And a disturbing trend has emerged in the last couple years: Car companies are not promoting electric vehicles like they used to. 

By my count, this year’s Super Bowl saw five commercials by automakers, but only two commercials (Kia and BMW) emphasized EVs. The other three ads either toted gas-powered vehicles, or inserted EVs as an afterthought. 

• That’s down from a peak of eight car commercials during 2022’s Super Bowl, six of which emphasized EVs. 

This is important because transportation is the highest-emitting sector in the United States. And it’s one of the only sectors where emissions are actually growing. 

For the U.S. to slash emissions in half by 2050 — the current standard for wealthy countries — and thereby avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we need more gas-powered cars turning into EVs. 

But getting people to switch from gas-powered to electric vehicles is easier said than done.

EVs have lost popularity this past year, with Americans spooked about price, driving range, and charging availability. As a result, electric vehicles have piled up at car lots and automakers have pulled the plug on aggressive EV ad campaigns.

But such a cycle is a self-defeating prophecy: Less interest in EVs leads to less money for advertising, which leads to even less interest in EVs.

This lack of interest in EVs, however, is more complicated than just advertisers and their campaigns. It stems from an inherently American problem: the ballooning size of our vehicles.  

Most American car commercials, EVs included, are not actually about cars but about pickup trucks and SUVs. That’s because as consumer preference has shifted toward bigger vehicles, U.S. automakers adjusted, making and marketing bigger and bigger cars: 

• The three best-selling vehicles in the U.S. last year were pickup trucks (nine of the top 11 were either pickup trucks or SUVs). 

But pickup trucks and SUVs don’t make the best EVs — for the consumer or the Planet. As I wrote in my last post, some larger electric vehicles (like the F-150 Lightning pickup truck) release more carbon than smaller, gas-powered cars. This problem is succinctly summarized by Business Insider:

Larger EVs require bigger batteries, which require more raw materials to manufacture, which requires producers to beef up their environmentally destructive mining operations. While bigger batteries allow drivers to travel farther between charges, they also make the cars heavier, more dangerous, more expensive, and worse for the planet.

Instead of buying or marketing huge EVs, we should reconsider how we drive and why so many of us drive 6,000-pound hunks of metal to move one person from point A to point B. That means a nationwide clean transportation plan shouldn’t simply push for more EV infrastructure or EV tax credits; it should also prioritize rail, public transit, bike lanes, and walkability. 

Close readers of this newsletter will point out how my view of EVs is unfair to automakers: Two Super Bowls ago, I wrote about how EV ads are a classic example of greenwashing. In other words, if automakers are at fault for greenwashing us with EVs, but also for a lack of interest in EVs, what are they supposed to do?

I think questions like that is where this newsletter finds its footing: the sometimes complicated reality of our greenwashed world and how we navigate tradeoffs to create a greener Planet. 

Or maybe I was just wrong about my initial take, and seeing fewer EV commercials on Sunday, I needed something to complain about. 

At least the Chiefs won.