The greatest barrier to EV adoption? Lack of familiarity

Once drivers get behind the wheel of an EV, worries about range anxiety, costs, and charging notably drop, a new Plug In America study finds.

Plug In America, a US nonprofit that advocates for widespread EV adoption, teamed up with EPRI, a nonprofit R&D organization, to release the latest insights into how EV drivers feel about their cars in its “2024 EV Driver Annual Survey Report.”

One of the biggest takeaways is how drivers’ worries decrease with EV adoption. Before making the switch, many people fret about battery range, charging infrastructure, and overall costs. But the data shows that once they start driving electric, these concerns drop significantly.

“It’s great to have data show what we’ve heard from EV owners for years,” said Joel Levin, Plug In America’s executive director. “What seem like scary issues for some people considering an EV become non-issues after going electric.”

However, concerns about the reliability of public charging and the impact of weather on EV performance still remained for EV drivers. The number of drivers worried about charging access after switching to EVs dropped, but the dip is slight. Fortunately, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are pouring in funding to address these exact pain points.

Overall, the EV drivers surveyed were overwhelmingly positive about their vehicles. A whopping 89% say they’re “likely” or “very likely” to make their next car electric, with even stronger support from those 65 and over and Tesla drivers, which sees over 90% saying they’ll stick with EVs.

The “2024 EV Driver Annual Survey Report” is based on responses from over 4,200 people from January through March 2024, including more than 3,300 current EV drivers. Even among those who don’t own an EV yet, 77% of people surveyed that are considering a new vehicle in the next year are eyeing an EV or plug-in hybrid.

Financial backing for Plugin America’s survey came from EPRI, Xcel Energy, and the Alliance for Transportation Electrification. You can access the survey here.

Electrek’s Take

This stat may come up since it differs from the Plug In America report, so I want to reference the recent McKinsey “2024 Mobility Consumer Pulse” survey. It found that 46% of US EV drivers said they are likely to switch back to gas-powered vehicles. While the McKinsey report covers a wide range of data on EV drivers, media outlets have mainly focused on this particular statistic, which highlights ongoing concerns about EV ownership.

A big reason the McKinsey respondents cited was the public EV charging experience, and the Plugin America report confirmed that. Plus, both reports found that a lack of familiarity with EVs is the biggest barrier to switching to electric.

The Plug In America report focuses on data from Q1 2024, while the McKinsey report draws from over 30,000 EV and gas car owners across 15 countries, covering data collected since 2021. In those three years, the landscape has shifted significantly. McKinsey’s findings show that global interest in purchasing EVs has steadily increased during that time, reflecting the growing momentum behind electric vehicles despite ongoing challenges.

While it’s useful to compare the two reports, they aren’t directly comparable because the datasets are fundamentally different. The differences in time frame, scope, and participant pools mean the findings offer distinct perspectives rather than being an exact match.

Read more: Here’s how much money you’ll get with the Inflation Reduction Act

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