Car buyers are warming up to the electric vehicle segment but continue to cite affordability as a key obstacle to making the switch from gas.
Low-income shoppers are especially likely to object to the higher price tags of electric vehicles. Autolist, an online search platform for new and used car deals, recently conducted a survey to find the primary roadblocks to EV adoption. Of the 3,100 car buyers who responded, 42% indicated that battery-powered cars were too expensive.
Corey Lydstone, Autolist founder and CEO, acknowledged that electric vehicles had entered a new era of rising demand and popularity but warned that a majority of these advances had come from wealthy car buyers. In fact, the company’s researchers found that the lower a shopper’s income, the greater their opposition to EV adoption. Among survey respondents making less than $30,000 a year, the share of pricing concerns increased to 46%. “It’s clear from our survey that making EVs affordable for all consumers will be essential to their widespread adoption,” he stated.
Two other common obstacles linked to electric vehicle hesitation also ranked highly among shopper concerns in Autolist’s study. Limited driving range was cited as an issue among 39% of survey respondents. Inadequate charging availability earned 33%.
However, while its survey indicates that electric vehicle affordability leaves much to be desired, Autolist notes that there is some positive news to be gleaned from the results. All three obstacles cited by customers, price, range and charging, saw lower scores than the previous year, meaning fewer car buyers felt these were an issue. “This is a good sign overall for the EV industry,” Lydstone concluded. “More parity among consumers’ concerns means that models hitting the market today are chipping away at issues people have had with EVs for a long time.”
