Study: Electric-car buyers younger and richer, attracted by sweet deal
Buyers of electric cars from major automakers tend to be younger and richer than those who opt for the conventional versions of the same models, a new study funds.
And the reason for acquiring the electric car? To a much greater degree, buyers were attracted by a juicy deal, despite their wealth, finds TrueCar.com.
The automotive research and buying website, compared the profile of buyers of two compact cars — one the conventional version and the other being the electric. Interestingly, it found big differences.
The research is significant because it points to how electric cars, not just luxury models like Teslas, aren’t finding their way into the mass market. Sales of them are paltry.
For the conventional Focus, buyers average age 46 and have household income of $77,000 a year. The average Focus Electric buyer is age 43 with household income of $199,000, says TrueCar president John Krafcik.
Among the conventional buyers, half said they bought a Focus because of a lucrative price and rebates. But when it came the electric, that figure jumped to 82 percent.
The same dynamic was at work with the Fiat 500 vs. its electric version, the 500e. Buyers of the conventional version come in an average of age 47 with $73,000 in household income. The electric attracts buyers average age 45 and $145,000 income. Fewer, some 52 percent, were lured by the deal, compared with 67 percent for the electric.
“These are really affluent folks,” Krafcik says. And one of the ways they got that way was buying searching for bargains. “It’s their psyche.”
TrueCars’s findings are in keeping with other studies. In 2012, the Electric Vehicle Information Exchange, part of a consulting group called Oceanus Automotive, found electric-vehicle owners were primarily “very well educated, upper-middle class white men in their early 50s with ideal living situations for EV charging.” The study was based on Internet responses from 990 owners and enthusiasts.
Prices have been cut many electricvehicle models, but they are still high compared with other cars. As a result, sales are poor. Although Fiat does not disclose sales of its 500e, Ford says it sold124 Focus Electrics last month — out of 18,100 Focus cars sold overall.
Ron Cogan, publisher of the Green Car Journal, says electric owners tend to break down in groups. Some are environmental do-gooders who may not have much income but are out to save the planet.
“They are doing right by the environment,” he says.
Others are rich people looking for a deal on a second or third car. With a cheap lease, they can use it to tool around town.
Paul Scott, who worked for Nissan Leaf electrics as a salesman for four years, says his customers “cared about society, cared about other people.” But he says they were clearly aware that electricity is cheaper than gas.
“They were definitely bargain hunters,” says Scott, who left the car business last year to work on a book on climate change.