A new survey says nearly half of the owners of electric vehicles in the U.S. aren’t happy with their purchase and regret making the switch from gasoline- powered vehicles to EVs.
The Mobility Consumer Pulse for 2024, a survey conducted by McKinsey & Co., found that 46% of EV owners were likely to switch back to owning a gas-powered vehicle.
“I didn’t expect that,” the head of McKinsey’s Center for Future Mobility, Philipp Kampshoff, told Automotive News.
In the poll of nearly 37,000 consumers worldwide, Australia was the only country with a greater percentage (49%) of EV owners than the U.S. who said they were ready to return to owning an internal combustion engine.
Other countries included in the survey were Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Norway.
Across all countries surveyed, the average share of respondents who want to ditch their EVs was 29%.
The biggest reason EV owners cited for wanting to return to a gasoline- powered vehicle was the lack of available charging infrastructure (35%). The second-highest reason cited was that the total cost of owning an EV was too high (34%). Nearly 1-in-3 said their driving patterns on long-distance trips were affected too much by having an EV.
Of the EV owners across all countries, 11% said the infrastructure where they live is well set up in terms of charge points, 40% said there were not enough chargers along highways and main roads, and 38% said there were not enough chargers in close proximity to them.
A separate survey by AAA found declining interest in purchasing electric vehicles, with only 18% of U.S. adults saying they are likely to buy an EV, down from 23% last year. The main concerns cited by consumers are EV high costs, limited charging infrastructure and range anxiety, the survey concluded.
The gap between the price you pay for your new or used internal combustion engine vehicle and an EV is shrinking. The demand is off despite federal government incentives.
Federal tax credits of up to $7,500 for new EVs and up to $4,000 for qualifying used EVs are helping convince some Americans to buy electric. After applying these credits, EV prices are even closer to that of gas-powered cars, with new models of the latter selling for an average price of about $45,000, noted Jenni Newman, editor-in-chief of Cars.com, told CBS News.
The average price of a new EV in May was $56,648, a drop of 15% from two years ago. Used EV prices have cratered by 42% when compared to last year. That is leading to an inventory build-up at dealerships.
A record 1.2 million electric vehicles were sold in the U.S. last year but that pace isn’t expected to increase this year.