Americans remain sour on electric vehicles

On June 4, the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released their second annual survey on Americans’ attitudes toward electric vehicles, which showed yet again that most Americans do not intend on buying electric vehicles in the near future.

In 2023, 47 percent of Americans said they are “not too likely/not at all likely” to purchase an electric vehicle (EV) the next time they buy a car while 19 percent answered “extremely likely/very likely.” One year later, those numbers have barely budged. In 2024, 46 percent of Americans remain in the “not too likely/not at all likely” camp, whereas 21 percent responded that they are “extremely likely/very likely” to purchase an EV the next time they buy a car.

When asked why they would not purchase an EV, the major reasons cited by Americans also remain almost unchanged over the past year.

In 2023, 60 percent of Americans said a major reason they are unwilling to buy an EV was “the cost of a new electric vehicle is too high.” This year, 59 percent said the same thing.

In 2023, 39 percent said a major reason was EVs take “too long to charge.” This year, 38 percent named this as a major reason.

Among the other major reasons, 47 percent say “the range on an electric vehicle is not far enough,” 39 percent say they simply “prefer a gas engine vehicle,” and 38 percent say they “don’t know of any charging stations nearby.”

Although many on the far Left probably balk at these reasons, they would be wise to at least try to understand the trepidation most Americans have towards EVs.

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