Is enthusiasm for electric cars losing its charge?
Today you鈥檙e far more likely to see an all-electric聽聽like the Nissan Leaf or Tesla Model S on your way to work or to the store, versus just a couple of years ago.
That much is almost certainly true. But that doesn鈥檛 mean that EVs are past a market tipping point just yet.
Hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and full battery-electric cars鈥攃ombined鈥攔epresent only about three percent of the market. And that percentage hasn鈥檛 changed significantly since 2012.
One surprising indicator鈥攅specially to those who love electric cars in their varied forms and configurations鈥攊s that the percentage of car shoppers who would consider these vehicle types hasn鈥檛 significantly changed in two years.
These results come from a聽聽released this week, conducted this May and repeating the questions and methodology of a poll from two years earlier.
From 2013 to 2015, an identical proportion鈥�48 percent鈥攐f Americans who own cars (or anticipate buying a car) say that they would consider a hybrid, while plug-in hybrids and pure聽聽were up just two percent in two years, to 29 and 21 percent, respectively.
That鈥檚 right. On the optimistic side of this, more than one out of every five shoppers can now say that they would at least consider a pure聽. But with theses numbers, the pace feels glacial.
Cost remains the biggest barrier
One of the biggest barriers for electric vehicle consideration isn鈥檛 at all surprising: It鈥檚 cost. Electric聽, even considering tax credits and incentives, usually cost significantly more than otherwise comparable gasoline models.
Here鈥檚 that full list of buyer concerns for EVs:
- Price (67%)
- Range (64%)
- Repair/maintenance costs (58%)
- Reliability (53%)
- Performance/power (50%)
- That it鈥檚 a new technology (42%)
From the 2013 poll to the 2015 one (conducted in May 2015, among 2,225 adults, with weighted adjustments for age, income, education, and other demographic factors), the percentage with each of those concerns either stayed the same or went up slighty鈥攅xcept for those who called it a new technology.
Men are more likely than women to be interested in electric cars or diesel models. And pure electric vehicles now rank slightly higher in shopper consideration than diesels.
Some generational and regional differences
Older shoppers in both polls were far more concerned about price and range than younger shoppers, and by region, those in the Midwest were considerably more likely to be concerned about the price and range components.
Those polled indicated that they traveled a mean 29.6 miles daily, which is less than the average daily commute distance but more than the average daily distance traveled for adult Americans.
With the arrival of a new set of nearly 200-mile pure-electric models expected in a couple of years鈥攎odels like the聽, the聽, and a second-generation Nissan Leaf, for instance鈥攖hese results underscore a point: that even if range concerns are quelled, concerns about the price of electric vehicles, as well as some other unfounded concerns, may linger for a much longer time.
