For some time, all-electric vehicles were all the rage, with lots of people lining up and paying far more than MSRP for the privilege of bringing one home. However, that bubble has somewhat burst in recent months as early adopters exit the market, leaving automakers scrambling to figure out ways to appeal to everyone else. A number of recent studies have shown that car shoppers are less interested in EVs than before, and now, another study shows us the flip side of that coin – in this case, feelings from existing EV owners who aren’t necessarily satisfied with their rides.
In fact, around 46 percent of U.S. EV owners surveyed by McKinsey & Co. stated that they are likely to switch back to an ICE vehicle for their next purchase, according to Automotive News. The latest version of this survey polled 30,000 consumers in 15 countries, with 29 percent of global EV owners in total admitting that they are likely to give up and go back to a more traditional type of powerplant, with most citing a lack of charging infrastructure, high costs of ownership, and troubles related to long road trips as the main reasons why.
In addition to this result, 21 percent of respondents say they don’t ever want to switch from an ICE vehicle to an EV, though in terms of PHEVs and EVs collectively, 38 percent of non-EV owners say they’re considering one of the two for their next purchase – up slightly from 37 percent last year.
This sentiment is backed up by a recent study from AAA that found 18 percent of respondents say they’d be “likely” or “very likely” to purchase an EV, which is down from 23 percent one year ago, while 63 percent said they’re “unlikely” or “very unlikely” to consider one – up from 53 percent last year. This sentiment – along with record-setting hybrid sales – is precisely why Ford has scaled back its own EV investments as of late, instead focusing on producing more affordable models and expanding its hybrid offerings.
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Comments
The collateral damage from shoving EVs down people’s throats is that you’ve left consumers with a really bad taste. And now they are ready to spit out your product. This whole centrally planned disaster has set back EV adoption by decades.
Agreed. The adoption rate would have grown naturally, especially as the tech actually matured. Instead, they tried to rush it and force it down everyone’s throats. Pretty common theme after covid.
Consumer demand. Who knew? Our government sure doesn’t seem to care.
A well-heeled friend had one of the first Tesla Model S back in 2014. Loved it so he bought a second Model 3 when they came out. Saw him the other day, he’s now in a Porsche Panamera Hybrid and has an SL550 in the garage instead of the Model S. He said ultimately, it was just too much of a hassle and he found he had to plan just about every event around the cars charge and ability to charge it when away from home. And was involved in a minor fender bender which took the Model S out of commission for 8 weeks. One thing about wealthy people, they may have more money, but no one gets more time.
Ford desperately needs gen 2 products to keep up with competition. Slowing down now guarantees failure. More likely the cash cow F series business is failing so fast they can’t afford to fund the transition to EV. Not looking good for long term, and will die a slow death and may become a Pro only business within 10 years.
I find it hard to believe that 46 % would like to return to ICE vehicles. Talk about maintenance charges and with hybrids you get to pay both! Giving a $7,500 tax incentive wasn’t hard to swallow. Finding a good Dealership WAS difficult, but Coggin Ford in DeLand FL held the price for the year I waited and didn’t tack on the $5,000 others threatened.
I LOVE my Mach-E! It’s the quietest, smoothest, quickest and best handling car I’ve ever owned. (Including my “German” sports cars.) As far as “range anxiety”…I took it from FL to NH without any problem!
H. Lanza
That title is misleadi g and tbe survey is wrong. The EV owners in the U.S. will not go back to an ICEV.and burn fuel again. Most EV owners charge at home and only use highway charge stations when traveling long distances. The naysayers here have never own any electric vehicle. I own a Ford hybrid which is 70% electric. And my next Ford will be electric!
Great job rejecting reality in favor of your delusion.
The survey can’t be wrong. It’s just what people said. You can disagree, you can say they didn’t poll correctly, whatever. But it isn’t “wrong”.
BEVs will be a foot ote in automotive history. They’ll likely stick around with niche applications. I could see them cutting battery size to reduce cost and being more of short ra ge commuter cars. If you could buy something like a Model 3 with a 120 mile range.ge for $25-30k, some people would buy it. But with the advance of PHEVs and ER EVs, big battery EVs are just not gonna make sense anymore.
When you’ve bought into a lie that big and that wrong for so long, it is very difficult to admit you’ve been that foolish.
Just try to find a auto body shop to fix a EV fender bender(most will not touch it)
wait until they go back to that same dealer that gouged them on the EV price and gets lowballed on their trade in.
I agree that non -Tesla owners would probably not go for an EV, especially for road trips. The charging infrastructure is lacking and unreliable. But what percentage of the survey were Tesla owners? I find it hard to believe that many would go back to an ICE vehicle after experiencing the expansive Supercharger network and the convenience of charging at home.