Poll Reveals the Biggest Reason Preventing Americans from Buying Electric Cars

While electric cars have increased somewhat in popularity, a recent survey found many Americans still have serious reservations.

According to a poll from Consumer Reports conducted between Jan. 27 to Feb. 18, a large majority of Americans stopped short of saying they would “definitely” buy or lease an electric vehicle if they were purchasing a vehicle today.

Overall, 14 percent of the 8,027 respondents said they would “definitely” buy or lease an electric vehicle. Another 22 percent said they would “seriously consider it.”

Meanwhile, 35 percent said they might consider buying or leasing an electric vehicle in the future, but not if they were buying a car today. Finally, 28 percent said they would not consider buying an electric vehicle.

This means a total of 63 percent of Americans said they would not consider buying or leasing an electric car if they were looking for a vehicle today.

In an article summarizing the results, Consumer Reports said the percentage of Americans who said they would “definitely” buy or lease an electric car was up 10 percent from their findings in a similar poll conducted in 2020.

Even so, that leaves 86 percent of Americans who are not completely sold on the idea of electric vehicles.

The poll also asked those 86 percent of respondents about their reasons for hesitation when considering buying or leasing an electric vehicle.

“Of the following attributes, which, if any, would prevent you from buying or leasing an electric-only vehicle if you were to buy or lease a vehicle today?” the survey asked.

Would you buy an electric vehicle today?

Charging logistics was the top answer to this question, as 61 percent of respondents said they had concerns regarding when and where they could charge the vehicles.

Fifty-five percent said they were concerned about the number of miles the car could travel before needing to be recharged, and 52 percent said they were worried about the costs of buying, owning and maintaining the vehicle.

Charging has been a major concern for electric vehicles in the United States, and many EV owners have been forced to wait in extremely long lines or drive out of their way to charge their cars.

In a video from June 28 shared by YouTube channel TFLEV, a journalist documented his journey while trying to charge his 2023 Cadillac Lyric, a new electric vehicle from General Motors.

The journalist looked for the fast-charging station in Park City, Utah, before finally settling for an EVgo charger, which is much slower.

Once he got to that charger, it would not accept his payment method, and he was unable to get the suggested mobile app to work properly.

Electric vehicles have also proven to be very ineffective for towing. Last November, for example, a couple attempted to drive their Rivian R1T, an all-electric pickup truck, from Detroit to Los Angeles and back.

They used the truck to pull a flat-deck car-hauler trailer carrying Ford Mustang Shelby GT, which would be a pretty standard load for a pickup truck to tow.

While the Rivian R1T had an advertised range of 314 miles, that greatly decreased when towing. Over the trip of about 2,700, the couple had to stop 27 times to charge the vehicle, and the couple documented the whole journey on Instagram, and a YouTube account called The Fast Lane Truck.