Americans Less Likely Than Other Nationalities to Buy Electric Cars: Mobility Survey

An employee works on the production line of electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer Octillion in Hefei, Anhui province, China, on March 30, 2021. (Aly Song/Reuters)

Americans are less likely to buy an electric vehicle (EV) compared to people from other nations, according to the latest EY Mobility Consumer Index from EY Global, which also showed that a high proportion of survey respondents who were likely to buy an EV would be willing to pay a premium for it.

Among the 13,000 people surveyed in 18 countries, only 29 percent of Americans and 38 percent of Australians committed to buying electric vehicles, a May 23 press release said. In contrast, 73 percent of Italian car buyers, 69 percent of Chinese buyers, and 63 percent of South Korean buyers were committed to buying an EV.

For the first time in the survey’s history, over 50 percent of respondents expressed a desire to buy an EV. At 52 percent, this represented an increase of 22 percentage points in just two years.

Among those willing to purchase EVs, 88 percent said they would pay more to get an EV than a standard combustion engine vehicle. Of those, 35 percent were willing to pay a premium of 20 percent or more, which is in line with 2021’s findings.

Among the reasons respondents were looking to buy an EV, 38 percent of those surveyed said the environment was their top concern. Another 34 percent of people expressed concerns about rising penalties on internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.

Those who already drive EVs were less worried about “range anxiety,” which refers to worries about how far one can ride an EV on a single charge. They were also less concerned about charging infrastructure.

Only 27 percent of those who own EVs said they were worried about charging infrastructure compared to 36 percent of respondents who do not presently own an electric vehicle. Among EV owners, the top motivator for buying the next electric vehicle was that the new ones “have longer ranges.”

According to Randy Miller, EY Global’s Advanced Manufacturing and Mobility leader, high gas prices and environmental concerns are the top reasons for the rising interest in EVs.

“The old issues of worrying about charging infrastructure and the range of EVs will soon come to an end,” he said in the press release.

Deloitte’s 2022 Global Automotive Consumer Study also found Americans to be least interested in EVs. While 69 percent of U.S. citizens were interested in ICE vehicles, just 5 percent were interested in battery-operated electric vehicles.

In contrast, 11 percent of respondents from Japan, 15 percent from Germany, 17 percent from China, and 23 percent from South Korea expressed interest in buying EVs.

A survey published in June 2021 by the Pew Research Center showed that Americans were split about the idea of phasing out combustion-engine vehicles by 2035. While 47 percent supported such a phase-out, 51 percent opposed it.

Four in ten Americans are “at least somewhat likely to seriously consider” an EV the next time they consider purchasing a vehicle, while 46 percent are “not too likely or not at all likely” to do so. Only 7 percent of respondents said they own an electric or hybrid vehicle.