A major impediment to wide acceptance of electric vehicles even on the part of people who use their cars almost...

GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions

Source: Official Guide

Critical Reasoning

Weaken

MEDIUM

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Notes

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A major impediment to wide acceptance of electric vehicles even on the part of people who use their cars almost exclusively for commuting is the inability to use their electric vehicles for occasional extended trips. In an attempt to make purchasing electric vehicles more attractive to commuters, one electric vehicle producer is planning to offer customers three days free rental of a conventional car for every 1,000 miles that they drive their electric vehicle.

Which of the following, if true, most threatens the plan's prospects for success?

Many electric vehicles that are used for commercial purposes are not needed for extended trips.

Because a majority of commuters drive at least 100 miles a week, the cost to the producer of making good the offer would add considerably to the already high price of electric vehicles.

The relatively long time it takes to recharge the battery of an electric vehicle can easily be fitted into the regular patterns of car use characteristic of commuters.

Although electric vehicles are essentially emission-free in actual use, generating the electricity necessary for charging an electric vehicle's battery can burden the environment.

Some family vehicles are used primarily not for commuting but for making short local trips, such as to do errands.

Solution

Passage Analysis:

Text from Passage	Analysis
A major impediment to wide acceptance of electric vehicles even on the part of people who use their cars almost exclusively for commuting is the inability to use their electric vehicles for occasional extended trips.	What it says: Electric cars aren't widely accepted because people can't use them for long trips, even among daily commuters What it does: Sets up the core problem that needs solving What it is: Author's identification of market barrier Visualization: Commuters need: 95% short daily trips + 5% occasional long trips, but electric cars only handle the 95%
In an attempt to make purchasing electric vehicles more attractive to commuters, one electric vehicle producer is planning to offer customers three days free rental of a conventional car for every 1,000 miles that they drive their electric vehicle.	What it says: An electric car company plans to give customers 3 free rental days of regular cars for every 1,000 miles driven in their electric car What it does: Presents a proposed solution to the problem identified earlier What it is: Company's strategic plan Visualization: Customer drives 1,000 miles in electric car → Gets 3 days free conventional car rental for long trips

Argument Flow:

The argument moves from identifying a market problem (people won't buy electric cars because they can't use them for long trips) to presenting a company's proposed solution (offering free conventional car rentals as an incentive).

Main Conclusion:

There isn't really a main conclusion here - this passage sets up a situation and a proposed plan, but doesn't argue for or against anything. It's presenting background information for us to evaluate.

Logical Structure:

This is actually a setup passage rather than a complete argument. We have Problem (people won't buy electric cars due to long-trip limitations) → Proposed Solution (free rental program), but we're not told whether this solution will work or not. The question stem asks what would threaten this plan, so we need to find potential weaknesses.

Prethinking:

Question type:

Weaken - We need to find information that would reduce belief in the plan's prospects for success

Precision of Claims

The plan's success depends on making electric vehicles more attractive to commuters by solving their occasional extended trip problem through rental car offerings

Strategy

Look for scenarios that would prevent the rental car plan from actually making electric vehicles more attractive to commuters. This could involve issues with the plan's implementation, cost-effectiveness, practicality, or whether it truly addresses the core problem. We need to find reasons why commuters still wouldn't buy electric vehicles even with this rental offer.

Answer Choices Explained

Many electric vehicles that are used for commercial purposes are not needed for extended trips.

This doesn't threaten the plan because the argument specifically focuses on commuters, not commercial users. The plan is designed to attract individual commuters who need occasional extended trips, so information about commercial vehicles is irrelevant to the plan's success with its target market.

Because a majority of commuters drive at least 100 miles a week, the cost to the producer of making good the offer would add considerably to the already high price of electric vehicles.

This seriously threatens the plan's prospects. If commuters drive 100+ miles weekly, they'll earn 3 free rental days every 10 weeks (since \(\mathrm{1,000\,miles} \div \mathrm{100\,miles/week} = \mathrm{10\,weeks}\)). This means the producer will face substantial ongoing costs providing rental vouchers. These costs would need to be built into the vehicle price, making electric cars even more expensive than they already are - exactly the opposite of making them more attractive to commuters.

The relatively long time it takes to recharge the battery of an electric vehicle can easily be fitted into the regular patterns of car use characteristic of commuters.

This actually supports the plan rather than threatening it. If recharging fits well with commuter patterns, this removes another potential barrier to electric vehicle adoption, making the rental plan more likely to succeed.

Although electric vehicles are essentially emission-free in actual use, generating the electricity necessary for charging an electric vehicle's battery can burden the environment.

This discusses environmental concerns but doesn't directly threaten the rental plan's effectiveness. The plan addresses the extended trip problem, and environmental issues don't prevent the rental solution from working as intended.

Some family vehicles are used primarily not for commuting but for making short local trips, such as to do errands.

This is irrelevant to the plan's success because the argument specifically targets people who use cars 'almost exclusively for commuting.' Information about non-commuting family vehicle use doesn't affect whether the rental plan will attract commuters.

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