Growing number of people won't buy EVS

Governments are setting mandates for electric-vehicle sales and automakers are turning out an increasing number of them, but do people actually want to buy them? Quite a few might not, according to a new report from J.D. Power.

The survey, which looked at U.S. consumers, found that the percentage of people who say they are “very unlikely” to consider an electric vehicle (EV) for their next purchase has been growing steadily for the first three months of 2023, reaching 21 per cent in March. That's up from 17.8 per cent in January and 18.9 per cent in February. The number of people who say they are “very likely” to consider buying an EV still outnumber the naysayers by a slim margin, at 26.9 per cent, but that percentage stayed basically the same over those three months.

As for the number of EVS actually finding new homes, the segment has grown in the U.S. from 2.6 per cent of all new-vehicle sales in February 2020 to 8.5 per cent in February 2023, although it dropped to 7.3 per cent in March. In the report, J.D. Power said some monthto-month sales drops are to be expected, but “a closer look at the barriers to EV adoption” found that many shoppers “are becoming more adamant about their decision not to consider an EV for their next purchase.”

The top barriers are lack of public charging infrastructure and the price of EVS. Other issues mentioned by respondents, in order of importance behind those two, are limited range per charge; the inability to charge at home or at work; cost of ownership; power outages or grid concerns; inadequate reliability, including the battery's life; lack of available or capable repair or service centres; and inadequate performance in extreme temperatures.

In the U.S., Walmart plans to dramatically expand its charging network and Tesla plans to open some of its supercharger network to non-tesla vehicles, but this seems to have had little effect on consumer concerns, the report said.

Buyer age is also a factor, and the survey found the majority of Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and Pre-boomers (born before 1946) are not considering EVS, while one-third of Gen Z buyers (born between 1995 and 2004), dubbed “the future of the marketplace” in the report, say they are “somewhat unlikely” or “very unlikely” to consider an EV.