Growing number of people won't buy EVs: J.D. Power

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Governments are setting mandates for electric-vehicle sales, and automakers are turning out an increasing number of them, but do people actually want to buy them? Quite a few might not, according to a new report from J.D. Power.

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The survey, which looked at U.S. consumers, found that the percentage of people who say they are “very unlikely” to consider an electric vehicle (EV) for their next purchase has been growing steadily for the first three months of 2023, reaching 21% in March. That’s up from 17.8% in January, and 18.9% in February.

The number of people who say they are “very likely” to consider buying an EV still outnumber the naysayers by a slim margin, at 26.9%, but that percentage stayed basically the same over those three months.

As for the number of EVs actually finding new homes, the segment has grown in the U.S. from 2.6% of all new-vehicle sales in February 2020; to 8.5% in February 2023, although it dropped to 7.3% in March 2023. In the report, J.D. Power said some month-to-month sales drops are to be expected, but “a closer look at the barriers to EV adoption” found that many shoppers “are becoming more adamant about their decision not to consider an EV for their next purchase.”

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The top barriers are lack of public charging infrastructure and the price of EVs, and those two have been highest on the list for the past ten months. Other issues mentioned by survey respondents, in order of importance behind those two, are limited range per charge; the inability to charge at home or at work; cost of ownership; power outages or grid concerns; inadequate reliability, including the battery’s life; lack of available or capable repair or service centres; and inadequate performance in extreme temperatures.

In the U.S., Walmart plans to “dramatically expand” its charging network and Tesla has announced it will open some of its supercharger network to non-Tesla vehicles, but these “have apparently had little effect on these consumer concerns, at least so far,” the report said.

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Buyer age is also a factor, and the survey found the majority of Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and Pre-Boomers (born before 1946) are not considering EVs, while one-third of Gen Z buyers (born between 1995 and 2004), dubbed “the future of the marketplace” in the report, say they are “somewhat unlikely” or “very unlikely” to consider an EV.

While we don’t have corresponding surveys for Canadians considering EVs, a recent report found that most who did buy one would likely buy another and didn’t have the same concerns after they’d owned one — but these were people who had already taken the EV plunge anyway, of course.

Not surprisingly, the report also found that consumer interest in EVs is “heavily swayed” by price, including government rebates, lease deals, and price cuts by the automakers. In the U.S., the Ford Mustang Mach-E and Tesla Model Y were reclassified as SUVs and became eligible for US$7,500 in federal tax credits, which created a surge of interest in them.

However, J.D. Power also noted that new rebate rules will be coming into effect, and will include restrictions based on where the vehicle is made and where minerals for its batteries are sourced. “This new hurdle will affect the affordability of several EV models,” the report said, as well as cause confusion for buyers. It should be interesting to see what happens to the gap between EV mandates and the people actually shopping for vehicles.