Many people are open to the possibility of buying an electric vehicle. However, the road to wider adoption has quite a few deep potholes, including price and, above all, practicality.
That’s according to a pair of recent polls, as well as extensive feedback from car owners given to the Washington Examiner.
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Just over 40% of drivers said they would be “somewhat likely” to purchase an EV the next time they go car shopping, according to a poll released April 10 by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
A Reuters-Ipsos poll released on March 21 found less support, but it was still in the same ballpark, with 34% of respondents saying they were open to EVs.
“While there is plenty of interest in purchasing an electric vehicle, the high upfront cost of owning one and concerns about the country’s charging infrastructure are barriers to more people driving them,” Jennifer Benz, deputy director of the Associated Press-NORC Center, said in a statement.
She added, “Policies that alleviate these concerns will be a key component of building support for an EV future.”
The Biden administration is bullish on EVs, to the point of trying to tip the scales against cars with internal combustion engines, with billions going to build out charging infrastructure and the Environmental Protection Agency issuing greenhouse gas emissions standards that would force automakers to build more EVs. Also, certain states have announced plans to ban the sale of gas-powered cars in the next decade or so.
Drivers are not yet sold on this transition, however.
One reason is price. The Motley Fool financial website said new EVs average more than $16,000 above their gas-powered equivalents, which are already quite pricey.
“The average price for a new vehicle hit a record high of $48,681 in November 2022,” the Motley Fool reported. “In comparison, the average new EV price was $65,041.”
As the fleet of American cars becomes more EV-heavy, the initial purchase price gap should narrow, in theory. In practice, however, the Chevrolet Bolt was the cheapest mass-produced EV on the market. It’s going out of production at the end of this year for lack of demand.
There are some undeniable savings to be had with EVs in that you don’t have to gas up, some motorists are quick to point out.
John Irons lives in the Washington, D.C., area and hosts the trivia podcast Captain GameShow.
Given the “cost/mileage of a gas-powered car,” he told the Washington Examiner, “I’d rather own an electric vehicle.”
EVs are more expensive in other respects, however. While they cost less to maintain day to day, they typically have higher insurance premiums, repair costs, and fees.
Another reason people listed against EV ownership is practicality.
Michael Gallagher is president of the Washington Policy Center think tank in Washington state. He owns an EV and thus is quite aware of its limitations.
“I own a Mustang GT,” Gallagher told the Washington Examiner. “I have driven it for over 12,000 miles, and passing gas stations [with] the $6 price for premium gasoline is terrific.”
Other aspects of it are not so terrific, he said.
“As fun as the car is to drive, charging on the road or when you don’t have a garage is a different story,” Gallagher said. “I drove the Mustang to Bandon Dunes, seven hours south of Seattle in Oregon. The last 100 miles were a trust fall that Bandon had charging on-site to be able to add enough range to get back to I-5. Because Bandon is the land where golf dreams come true, they did: one charging station for non-Tesla vehicles. One.”
On other trips, Gallagher hasn’t been so lucky.
“I drove to Tri-Cities in Washington for a series of meetings,” he said. “On the drive, you pass several dams that generate massive amounts of electricity. But when I arrived at our destination, it was a charging desert. Just because electricity is everywhere does not mean there is a plug that fits your car to get you where you need to go.”
Mariel Garza, the deputy editorial page editor of the Los Angeles Times, published similar misgivings.
“I love my electric car. I really do,” she wrote in April. “But after three years, I am thinking seriously of trading it in for the gas-powered hybrid plug-in version. Why? Because as much as I love my car, I loathe that I can’t travel around California, a state [that] has led the electric car revolution, with confidence that I can get a charge when I need one.”
Another objection voiced to the Washington Examiner in several different ways wasn’t that motorists want to stick with the typical gas-powered cars but rather that they don’t think the government’s proposed replacement is necessarily the best choice.
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“Hydrogen is the future, in my opinion,” said Rich Hartman, who owns stakes in several car dealerships in the Pacific Northwest.
“I have a plug-in electric hybrid, best of both worlds,” said Chaz Cirame, founder of the recruiting firm Big Fish. “It’s foolish that our policymakers aren’t focusing on promoting these versus fully electric cars.”
