Only 4% of North American car production is electric

A Tesla 2021 Model X sports-utility vehicle sits at a Tesla dealership. Car companies say they need to keep selling internal-combustion vehicles to fund the R&D necessary for the EV transition.

North American factories made 7.4 million cars and trucks in the first half of this year, but only 323,000 of them were battery-powered, according to BloombergNEF and market forecaster LMC Automotive. 

That calculus is contributing to the dearth of affordable electric options, and means it will likely be years before everyone in the US with electric vehicle (EV) dreams is able to realise them.