According to the International Council on Clean Transportation (icct), the market for Electric Vehicles (EVs) in the United States has grown exponentially. In 2010, there were only a few thousand vehicles, but this has increased to over 315,000 vehicles sold yearly between 2018 and 2020.
With the increasing numbers of EVs on the road, FindTheBestCarPrice.com wanted to discover their views and preferences. They, therefore, surveyed 2,000 US motorists exploring EV-related topics.
The survey revealed that 30% are looking to buy a hybrid vehicle for their next vehicle, 27% are considering a gas vehicle, and 25% wish to purchase an all-electric vehicle.
The general survey discovered that the top most popular motives for people looking to purchase an EV included wanting to own a vehicle with the latest technology (21%), environmental concerns (19%), and the perks of owning an EV (19%).
When exploring age and vehicle preferences, it was surprisingly revealed that those aged 65 and above were more likely to purchase an EV because of environmental concerns at 52% than those aged 18 to 24 at just 17%.
From looking at the regional data, the Southwest was the most likely to contemplate purchasing an EV at 33%, followed by the Midwest at 27%, and lastly the Southeast at 25%.
FindTheBestCarPrice.com also investigated the places US motorists are most likely to retrieve EV information. They found the top five were car shopping websites (43%), dealerships (42%), manufacturer websites (42%), online videos (40%), and finally social media (38%).
It was interesting to find that just over a quarter (26%) do not look for information at all before buying a car in the US.
The EV body types that would be the first choice for survey respondents were also explored. The top body types were an SUV at 24%, followed by a Sports Car at 18%, and finally a sedan at 15%.
FindTheBestCarPrice.com found that only 18% of females would like an SUV body type compared to 32% of males.
The survey also discovered that the ways respondents prefer buying EVs were mostly online, but the final purchase was in-person at 46%, followed by entirely in-person at 19%, and finally completely online with delivery at 17%.
From exploring regional percentages, 29% of those surveyed in the Midwest would buy an EV completely online with delivery, compared to only 9% of those in the Northeast.
Concerns exist when looking at EVs, therefore, FindTheBestCarPrice looked at the top worries people in the US have. 22% do not have any concerns regarding buying, 19% said battery life, 16% answered EV driving range and 13% said the cost of purchase.
The survey also explored the percentages of U.S. motorists who have the infrastructure to charge an EV from their home if needed. It was revealed that 40% said they could, 37% said they couldn’t and 23% were unsure.
The regional data found that half of those residing in the Northeast have the infrastructure to charge their EV at home in comparison to just 30% in the Midwest.
When looking at the percentages of those who knew the location of any public EV charging stations near their home or place of work. 23% said they knew, 44% responded that they knew more than one, and 30% declared that they didn’t know of any EV charging stations.
The survey also discovered if US motorists are aware of the Federal all-electric vehicle tax incentive. It was revealed that 43% were aware of the incentive, compared to 37% that said they didn’t. The rest of the respondents said they weren’t sure.
Additionally, the survey found that more males (52%) than females (35%) were aware of the federal all-electric vehicle tax incentive.
Finally, the survey looked at the regions that were most and least likely to be aware of the Federal all-electric vehicle tax incentive. The region most likely to know about the tax was the Northeast (55%). Contrarily, the regions that were least likely were the Southeast and West (40%).