Interest in electric cars increases, but survey shows big shift in consumer thinking yet to happen

A new US survey shows that interest in electric vehicles is increasing, but the expected massive shift in consumer thinking has yet to happen in the United States.

Electric vehicles are increasingly becoming mainstream, but the wider public still doesn’t believe in buying one for their next vehicle.

In a new survey of 3,392 American adults with valid driver’s licenses, Consumer Reports found that while the majority of respondents said that they had at least “some interest” in EVs, most of them wouldn’t even consider one for their next vehicle:

In a nationally representative survey of American adults with a valid drivers license conducted from July-August of 2020, 71% said they had at least some interest in getting an electric vehicle (EV) at some point; a total of 31% said they would consider getting an EV for their next lease or purchase.

The survey is showing the usual reasons for not considering electric cars like range, price, and general knowledge of electric vehicles.

Consumer Reports wrote about the survey results:

A big part of the survey was determining what consumers see as barriers to EV ownership, Harto says. Not surprisingly, vehicle range and availability of charging stations were chief among US motorists’ concerns. About half of the drivers surveyed say they would want an EV that could travel more than 300 miles between charges, and a little less than half of those who don’t ‘definitely’ plan to get an EV for their next vehicle say inadequate charging infrastructure is holding them back. Among other reasons these people cited as holding them back were purchase price (43% of respondents), insufficient knowledge about EVs (30%), and lack of a place to charge one at home (28%).

Here’s the survey’s fact sheet:

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Electrek’s Take

We at Electrek think that there’s an imminent massive shift in consumer thinking when it comes to electric vehicles.

This shows that it is not happening yet, but we are seeing an increase in interest.

I think we are going to see two-digit annual percentage growth in people considering EVs for their next vehicle until the vast majority of people will see that it will make no sense to buy a new car with an internal combustion engine.

We believe this will happen before the end of 2025 — driven by literally hundreds of compelling electric car models being available by that point.