Amid recent a federal push to drive more Americans into purchasing electric vehicles, a new poll suggests that most Americans aren’t sold on the cars.
There are also widespread claims that electric vehicles, which use a large and heavy lithium-ion battery, can address “climate change.” However, the poll found that about 61 percent believe electric vehicles do not do much to address it.
“U.S. adults’ party identification is the greatest differentiator in both their openness to owning EVs and their perceptions of the environmental impact that the use of such vehicles would have,” the pollster also found. About 6 percent of Democrats own an electric vehicle, while 1 percent of Republicans own one.
Some 22 percent of Democrats and 12 percent of independents say they are planning on purchasing an EV, while only 1 percent of Republicans say they are, the poll found. A majority of Democrats, or 54 percent, said they are considering it in the future, while 71 percent of Republicans said they won’t consider owning one.
“While ownership of electric vehicles is on the rise in the U.S., the percentage of Americans who say they own one remains limited at 4 percent,” it said. “Though they are often promoted as a key way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions ... the public remains largely unconvinced that the use of EVs accomplishes this aim.”
The findings come as the Biden administration unveiled a plan on April 12 that it wants to impose tougher emissions standards to force automakers into building more EVs by the year 2032. The Environmental Protection Administration, or EPA, has said that at least 60 percent of new passenger vehicles sold across the United States would be electric by 2030 and 67 percent by 2032.
A number of Democrat-controlled states, including California, have issued rules that would phase out the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035, replacing them with electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids.
Earlier this month, Cox Automotive said that prices for used EVs rose 32 percent in the first three months of 2023, according to the Reuters news service. The group said that the average price was around $43,400, down 4 percent from the same quarter last year.
The group stated used EV prices were probably cut due to price reductions by Elon Musk’s Tesla, the leading manufacturer of EVs, for new vehicles. “As the market leader pushes down prices for new EVs, used-vehicle prices follow suit,” Cox said, the agency reported.
But “given these changes” pushed by the federal government in recent days, “it is unclear to what extent Americans will be able to choose between electric and gas-powered vehicles in the next decade and beyond.”
“With four in 10 U.S. adults unwilling to even consider switching from a gas to an electric vehicle, the plans of Biden, California and auto manufacturers could be challenging to achieve,” it said.
