EVs remain a niche choice in the US, according to survey

Consumers around the world told Deloitte what they want in their next vehicle.

See full article...

 

[evan_s]

For me, I would need some sort of supplemental access to electricity other than Eversource in order to financially justify getting an efficient used EV rather than another Prius... even at the same entry price. Electricity costs more per mile than the gas even in the most efficient EV. Apparently this is not true everywhere, and Eversource is just sucking our souls out, but that's my (and probably tens of millions of other people in the US' hurdle). A hybrid saves the lion's share of the energy to be saved, though (recapture & idle). Even then, as stated in other comments, EV would be a tough fit when I travel for site visits during the work day... convenience...

That's a local electricity cost issue. My off peak power is $0.092 per kWh. For my Leaf that's about 3 cent per mile and with gas at >$3 a gallon you'd need to get over 100 mpg even in a hybrid to match that cost per mile but both power costs and gas prices are a local YMMV type of thing so that's no surprise. That's also often the case with having to rely on public charging, especially DC fast charging. You greatly reduce or even completely eliminate the cost per mile advantage of driving an EV.

 

[Legatum_of_Kain]

It really comes down to convenience IMO. ICE cars are just more convenient for most people. There's a gas station on every corner and filling up the tank only takes a few minutes. Most areas in the US do not have convenient locations to charge other than in your garage at home (which a lot of people don't have).

I would only pick an EV if it was just as convenient if not moreso than an ICE car and the only way that's possible is if I can charge it at home or if pretty much every random location I might decide I want to visit has a place I can plug in and charge. Every grocery store, every bar, every rest stop, every camp site, etc. The US is not as population dense as Europe or China. There are areas of the country where public charging infrastructure is practically nonexistent.

I say this as someone who doesn't even own a car currently. I live in a very walkable area and simply walk almost everywhere. If it's too far to walk I either take the bus or grab an Uber. That is cheaper than car ownership by far. I will definitely end up buying a car soon anyway even though I don't need one but I have gone without one for several years. Whatever I buy will definitely be an ICE. For me to consider an EV I would have to sell my condo and move to a place that has its own garage where I could install a home charger. At that point I would probably prefer an EV because charging at home is more convenient than refilling at a gas station. But for most people who do not live in a single family home or a duplex or something that has an attached garage, an EV is basically an automatic no.

I agree. People living in apartments for example, which is most millennials in USA at the minimum, are SOL for charging their vehicles and have to add that into their week/day.

 

[GlockenspielHero]

I recently purchased an Ioniq 5. I was also looking at PHEVs during my search (Kia Sportage, RAV4, Prius) but they seem to basically not exist. I’m sure they do but they’re so hard to find. I couldn’t find a PHEV for sale within 250 miles of me, used or new. Hopefully that changes.

In the mean time I’m very happy with my Ioniq 5 and honestly just don’t want an ICE again. I drive infrequently enough that I can just charge in my garage on a standard outlet and never have an issue. My limited driving mileage is also why I was considering a PHEV. I just couldn’t find any.

Fellow I5 owner here and a similar experience. I looked at a Prius Prime (previous car was a Prius) and the dealers basically laughed at me- they didn't have any and their allotments were effectively non-existent. Toyota just doesn't seem to care much.

And once you go EV, you don't go back. I get there are issues with lack of home charging or if you really, actually do tow heavy things, but if you're not in those categories I can't imagine looking at a rattly, slow, smelly maintenance nightmare like an ICE car and saying "Yup- that's the ticket!"

 

[th3suffering]

I have a 2015 Rogue that i like but is getting to the end of life (just passed 100k miles and the suspension is screwed after 10 years driving on PA roads). I'd love an EV but with no more tax credit, and cheap gas it's hard to justify that big initial expense when i don't drive a ton as it is (maybe 40-50 miles/day tops). Getting a charger installed is doable but no idea how much that costs and our home electricity rates have skyrocketed in the past year, despite living 20 miles from a Nuclear plant.

i see used EVs in the low/sub 20s all the time now including Teslas. Unless you need a brand new car the initial cost isnt that much different from buying a used ICE car.

Regarding a charger, you may not even need one installed. Even a 15 amp wall plug would be sufficient for your usage. L1 charges at 4-5 miles per hour, so over an 8 hour night you are getting 30-40. If you have a garage with a dryer outlet in it, that can be used for L2 charging.

 

[KungFuJoe]

For people who can at least charge at home, I wish people would think about the fact that for many drivers, you CAN use the EV as your around-town day-to-day vehicle. With a range of approx 200mi for most EVs, most people will not drive around town more than 200mi in a day - driving to work, school, church, shopping, friends' houses, entertainment venues, usually adds up to at most 100mi in a very busy day with a lot of driving.

It is possible if you only travel out of town occasionally - a few times a year, to just get a deal on a rental gas vehicle for longer trips.

And there IS charging infrastructure along most major highways and in major cities. You can charge in most places in the US if taking a longer trip.

OK. This is 100% why my wife got her EV. I have a traditional ICE vehicle, so if we ever need to go on a long trip, I cover us. But, for her day to day driving, she's got an EV. Seemed like a great fit, and it has been amazing.

The EV is a better to drive experience. Not enough people talk about that. Maintenance? Near zero. Pumping gas? Replaced with plugging in a charger at night. I mention this because my wife loathes pumping gas. She loves plugging in the car in the garage. The EV is also quiet, which she also loves. Cost to charge? Hard to calculate, but based upon our electric bill, it looks like it's about 1/4 to 1/5 the cost of gas in our area. Cheap!

You know what else? Shockingly, range has never been an issue. I'm pretty sure she's never even come close to half her capacity, except for a single time in winter.

Winter is a valid concern if your commute is a hundred miles or so (each way!), but who has that scenario?

The reality is that there is an active campaign from the petroleum industry to propagate and move public opinion against EVs. Put aside the "better for the environment" stuff. It drives better, has less maintenance, and the daily operating costs are less. Why are they not more popular? Cost is a real answer, but even then, some of that cost, but not all, is going to be absorbed in lower operating and maintenance costs. But people don't think like that.

The things you hear people parrot back to you about range and charge time? Basically not a concern once you own one, if you live near a mid sized city, and have access to a charger at home. Almost all of the apartments near where I live have dedicated chargers. Many of the employers by me have dedicated chargers. I have a charger at my house and have never used a public charger. There's never been a reason for me. However, there are plenty of them near my house. Were I making a long trip, I would use one of the many apps to plan my trip around chargers. I would have to stop to charge, sure, but is a half hour stop a deal breaker?

 

[jsully2549]

"Fifty-three percent of US respondents said they do not have a way to charge at home."

Only about 1/3 of US residences have no dedicated parking. This could show a skew in the sampling or just mean "I don't have a L2 charger".

Given low average daily use of any personal auto, L1 charging remains a good option for many. But it does mean charging every night for most of the night. And in winter, occasionally hitting a public charger.

 

[Speaking from Europe...]

What ICE owners fail to understand is that EVs don’t simply die like gas cars do when they have a “dead battery”. Instead the voltage has dropped far enough that it can’t sustain freeway speeds but often they have another 50 km of limp mode available at something like 50 km/h. So, in this situation, assuming you aren’t asking the dead EV to push a snow plow, you probably could make it to a place to charge. Besides, it is far more likely the ICE would have trouble starting in this situation with its own dead battery. AGM batteries are pretty miserable. Lithium runs circles around them and there is much reason to believe sodium and solid state batteries will be better still. The EV will start. There is no question.

It is a bit ironic that ICE owners don’t want EVs because they are afraid the EV will let them down frequently in the same way their ICEs do and be even slower to recover. They don’t do that. I have never once ran out of gas in my EV (nor battery for that matter). I don’t even think about it. There is something quite magical about refuelling at home for always having a fully charged car and never running out. The gas station is the problem, not the solution.

I had another Toyota hybrid for around 7 years before upgrading to this car.
Never had a problem with that car, the only thing I did different from most car owners is instead of changing the oil ever 15,000km I used to change it every 7k-ish, service on schedule.

It was running smooth when I gave it to the guy who bought it from me over 300,000km later.
I'll argue nobody makes hybrids like Toyota, they really know they shit - learning from the first Prius, then gen 2 and so on.

Other than the Tesla I had a look at the bz4x, they are not moving so well here so Toyota was giving me really really good financing options, but went back to a hybrid and no regrets.

 

[android_alpaca]

Given that most of the rest of the world are renters, how is it that most of them seem to have a place to plug in at home?

Did they only survey people with homes in the other countries?

Which "Rest of World"?

There are a few countries with majority renters, but they are not as common as you suggest.

US is 35% renters. Europe varies but overall is ~30% renters. China is 10% renters overall (25% in urban areas). In India is it 30% renters. South America is higher at around 40% (but that's not "most"). Africa is also roughly 40% renters overall with a few countries again over 50%).

Now to be clear many of these homes might not have a parking spot that is easily wired to do 240V charging, but that is something different from your claim about the percentage of people that are renters. AFAICT, as I only found like 3-4 countries in the entire world that have over 50% renters.

As an aside, some unexpected countries to be ahead of the US in adoption of PEV - like Nepal, Ethiopia, , Vietnam, Uruguay, Thailand, Indonesia.

 

[sporkinum]

As per previous articles on ARS, micro transportation, which is predominantly electric, is on the rise.

That is why my car only gets about 3000 miles a year of use. Car gets used if the weather is bad. Most of the time I am on my electric skateboard.

 

[jsully2549]

i see used EVs in the low/sub 20s all the time now including Teslas. Unless you need a brand new car the initial cost isnt that much different from buying a used ICE car.

Regarding a charger, you may not even need one installed. Even a 15 amp wall plug would be sufficient for your usage. L1 charges at 4-5 miles per hour, so over an 8 hour night you are getting 30-40. If you have a garage with a dryer outlet in it, that can be used for L2 charging.

I bought a '22 Niro EV for $8K net of state and federal tax credits last year.

Cars.com still shows very good deals on many used EVs.

 

[evan_s]

I've had a BEV for 7 years now. I've had a couple of issues with misjudging range but that's it over the thousands of journeys I've done. Those inconveniences don't in anyway outweigh the convenience of fueling my car at home and at approx. one quarter of the price. It drives nicely and nothing ever goes wrong with the EV part of it (not quite the case with the standard parts). I'm just not interested in an ICE car now.
On the other hand, they are quite expensive which is why I've had the same car for 7 years. I suspect cost has a lot to do with the preferences of buyers around the world.

Yeah. My wife has run into a few of those I'm not sure I'm going to make it home so I better stop and charge a bit situations but I've asked her and she'd still much rather stick with the EV. Those were with our 2013 Leaf so 55-60 miles of range on a typical 80% charge.

 

[lancemartini]

In the US, 39 percent said they would not pay more for a car with OTA functionality.

Yeah, why on earth would I pay for the possibilty that they'll ruin my car with either ads or removing functionality I use? The chances of them fixing something I think is broken are next to nil. I would pay less for such a feature, not more.

 

[MacnCheese]

In the garage we have an F150 and a Tesla Model 3. Maybe that is a strange combination, but for us and our lifestyle it is a perfect fit. The EV is easy and convenient and we will always have one. I would not own one without a garage and a level 2 charger.

 

[Morrowind542]

Honestly the best thing about owning an EV, somewhere that has cold winters at least, is being able to defrost it from an app without ever having to leave the house. Having to spray and scrape my old ICE (ha) car every morning was such a pain in the ass and I do not take for granted the fact I never have to do it again.

Have you had any issues with the cold weather messing with battery? That's one of my concerns about getting one as someone that lives where it gets pretty cold yearly

 

[sporkinum]

Honestly the best thing about owning an EV, somewhere that has cold winters at least, is being able to defrost it from an app without ever having to leave the house. Having to spray and scrape my old ICE (ha) car every morning was such a pain in the ass and I do not take for granted the fact I never have to do it again.

Depends on how long you have your car. Ford quit supporting mine about 6 years or so ago. None of that remote stuff works any more.

 

[stormcrash]

"Fifty-three percent of US respondents said they do not have a way to charge at home."

Only about 1/3 of US residences have no dedicated parking. This could show a skew in the sampling or just mean "I don't have a L2 charger".

Given low average daily use of any personal auto, L1 charging remains a good option for many. But it does mean charging every night for most of the night. And in winter, occasionally hitting a public charger.

Dedicated parking can refer to an assigned outdoor spot or a carport in an apartment or condo complex. You're not even going to have access to L1 charging in those unless your complex installs the connections. That's actually the scenario I have. My condo unit has a carport that belongs to me, so I have dedicated parking, but I have zero way to charge an EV in my dedicated parking

 

[stormcrash]

Honestly the best thing about owning an EV, somewhere that has cold winters at least, is being able to defrost it from an app without ever having to leave the house. Having to spray and scrape my old ICE (ha) car every morning was such a pain in the ass and I do not take for granted the fact I never have to do it again.

That's not EV specific though, that's any new car with app supported remote start. It's a great feature for sure, but ICE and hybrid cars have it too

 

[android_alpaca]

Have you had any issues with the cold weather messing with battery? That's one of my concerns about getting one as someone that lives where it gets pretty cold yearly

If you leave your EV in deep cold - you can have issues charging until it warms up (you can still drive the vehicle, albeit at reduced range) and older EV with early gen heat pumps might not warm as quickly. Your best guide would be to ask EV owners in your region on what it's like and see if it works for you.

 

[Hardtarget]

If EVs are so niche maybe you guys can start covering ICE cars again. I have no way to get a EV right now but I am extremely interested in more efficient ICE and Hybrid cars and it sucks the comments section drove away all reporting of that around here

 

[jsully2549]

I've probably been ninja'd a few times on this, but the social media war against EVs is raging.

It's not just a US thing, but it seems worse here.

A good resource for friends who are uncertain is here:
https://www.antiantiev.com/home

 

[Frank C.]

The current administration and it's direct moves against a whole industry hasn't helped.

 

[Dr Gitlin]

I had no idea EVs used regenerative braking.

It's mentioned in literally every single EV review we publish.

 

[redbike]

I don’t understand her reasons, but my daughter-in-law dislikes enough about her Kona EV to replace it with a hybrid. She charges at home, with low electric rates, and can drive to visit us without stopping to recharge. They have a gasoline burner for long trips anyway.
The main drawback of our Niro EV is the fussy climate control and touchscreen buttons.

I don’t understand her reasons, but my daughter-in-law dislikes enough about her Kona EV to replace it with a hybrid. She charges at home, with low electric rates, and can drive to visit us without stopping to recharge. They have a gasoline burner for long trips anyway.
The main drawback of our Niro EV is the fussy climate control and touchscreen buttons.

I checked the linked Deloitte survey: no query about knobs, switches, touch screens, or analog controls. Which leads to: is it an irrelevant minority that's concerned about user interface?

 

[Frank C.]

I wanted to get one. I really considered it. But we rent, and are not allowed to install a charger. Made the whole idea DOA for me. There are chargers nearby and a couple at work, but if I dont have a 100% guarantee of being able to charge my commuter for work, I can't justify getting one.

In my area, apartment managers and owners understand a car charger is now required, no different than a water heater. Every apartment that upgrades sees increased interest.

 

[chalex]

Just talked to mother in law. She has an indoor parking garage spot and a dedicated charger at her spot. Her old Volt is starting to have some issues with its battery and she is considering buying a new car. "I don't want an EV because I don't want to run out of battery and be stranded somewhere. I want a hybrid because it's the best of both worlds."
This is someone who is super-left-leaning and "the environment" was probably their top issue about a decade ago but now Tesla is off the table for political reasons and I'm not sure she knows other EVs exist.

So we still have a long way to go with the general populace.

 

[Keith Tanner]

About not having a place to charge whilst owning an EV - I have a friend who runs an EV and has a home garage so he could easily charge at home. He doesn't. Instead, he stops by a coffee shop on the way to work once or twice a week and lets the car charge while he goes in and gets a coffee. That's all he needs. You just have to change your thinking from "refueling is a thing that has to be done to take time out of my day" to "refueling is a thing that can happen when I'm doing something else".

Around here, you could charge while shopping at Sam's Club. Or while you're shopping on Main Street, or at the local theater. There are places for EVs to either chug or sip electricity. Heck, if you live in Canada, it's not that unusual to have outlets for block heaters which could also work for L1 charging overnight.

And, of course, if you can charge at home the concept of charging disappears. You just plug in the car when you park and it magically refills. After 6 years of EV ownership, I never bother to look at the state of charge unless I'm going on a road trip.

 

[Flipper35]

Is it fair to think that outside of Tesla, fewer USAians have much direct experience of EVs? In the UK, it feels like the transition is accelerating as EVs become more common and affordable, so they are less of an unknown quantity?

Nothing quells range anxiety etc like having a mate say it's not been a problem in their direct experience.

Can't you drive up, down and across the UK on a single charge?

 

[bburdge]

Want to add my voice here to several others in the thread who have said the this.

You can charge a BEV from a normal wall outlet, and for most folks driving an average of 40 miles a day or less that will be completely sufficient.

When I got my MachE 3 years ago I just plugged in the included charger to the normal 15A 120V outlet in the garage, and told myself I would take some end of year bonus money to install an L2 charger.

And then the time came and I realized that the wall outlet was doing good enough, and I kicked the can to next year. And next year again. Until my wife replaces her car and goes bev I don't see a need now.

If you have a working wall outlet that is within ~25 feet of where you park, you could charge an EV.

 

[EnragedEwok]

I agree. People living in apartments for example, which is most millennials in USA at the minimum, are SOL for charging their vehicles and have to add that into their week/day.

Anecdote so take with a grain of salt, but a lot of the newer apartment complexes built in my area (Atlanta) have EV charging spots including with the rest of the amenities they are built with and advertise for residents. My own apartment complex, a 1970s-80s era property that's cheaper but been well maintained over the decades also has EV charging stations installed such that every 4~ buildings has a couple spots.

There's been a lot of change in apartment charger availability over the past few years.

 

[buecker]

That's a local electricity cost issue. My off peak power is $0.092 per kWh. For my Leaf that's about 3 cent per mile and with gas at >$3 a gallon you'd need to get over 100 mpg even in a hybrid to match that cost per mile but both power costs and gas prices are a local YMMV type of thing so that's no surprise. That's also often the case with having to rely on public charging, especially DC fast charging. You greatly reduce or even completely eliminate the cost per mile advantage of driving an EV.

80% of a Nissan Leaf battery (not 2026) is 32kWh. Even at my awful utility rate of 42.5 cents per KWh I still save money compared to my old ICE car but gas is $4.70 a gallon here.

 

[cleek]

"Lag behind"? "Haven't yet"? Too fatalistic. The US may never have adequate infrastructure for charging EVs, so they may never be more popular than combustion vehicles (t)here.

houses are charging infrastructure.

 

[araczynski]

To me, anything that is not pure ICE, is an EV, and going by those graphics, ICE is the global niche product going forward... but that's surveys for you... they'll always say whatever you want them to say.

 

[Scifigod]

Charging station availability is still a real issue outside of metro areas. I make trips from Minnesota down to both ends of Iowa about four times a year (about 300 miles one way). Along the routes I take there is usually only a single slow (6kw) charger available in the assortment of small towns I pass through. There are a enough fast chargers I can hit on the way now but it's enough of a concern I always check before I travel now.

Even then it's not always a safe bet, for example the dealer I bought my Ioniq5 from installed three brand new fast chargers over the summer BUT every time I've driven past the dealer they have blocked them off so you can't actually use them. I charge at home but it still chaps my ass whenever I drive by there.

I wouldn't ever go back to ICE but I get the hesitation with switching to an EV if you are a frequent road tripper or someone who doesn't have the ability to get a home charger.

 

[Flipper35]

We are shopping for a new vehicle for my wife, this vehicle needs to be able to drive across texas 2-3 times a year and also tow 5,000 pounds. This vehicle needs 3 rows of seats.

We also want AWD, but in a base model, no sunroof, no leather seats, no heated seats, no fancy interior.

A pure electric is out of question, but the problem is none of the companies make a plug in hybrid that meets our needs.

The only non-luxury manufacturer that offers a plug hybrid with 3rd row seats is Mazda CX-90, but they only offer with higher trim models that starts at 50k+ and it is not available with a towing package for 5,000 pounds, only 3500 pounds.


Ideally, a base model Honda Pilot Sport with PHEV added on would what we would want. However, neither Toyota or Honda offer their mid size SUV's with plug in.

I don't think there are any FWD based units out there with greater than 3500# towing, even with the AWD package.

 

[Keith Tanner]

I found this interesting.

Only 41 percent of US car buyers think SDVs are useful, and one in three says they have no use for one.

"No use" for an SDV? How would they ever know? I expect just about every modern car is an SDV, depending on how strict the definition is. You could make the case that the Miata has been an SDV for the last decade, with most functions being controlled by a powertrain control module, a body control module, an electrical switching module and a dynamic stability control module. This has allowed for some interesting interactions between what you'd expect to be distinct subsections.

When you ask people if they want an SDV, they're more likely to think of a Tesla than a Miata, and the knee-jerk reaction is "no!" because of (waves hands).

 

[SaturnSky]

Maybe it's just me but the car companies don't do a great job of selling these things imo.

The very few EV ads I've seen have been absolutely terrible, but the main problem is that dealers don't want to sell EV's. EVERY dealership I've been to shopping for an EV has tried to talk me out of it. Some so blatantly that I thought they were joking. Then, when it came to the sales process, it became clear that the little I knew about the car was more than they did. My last purchase was in 2023 and I would be surprised if the situation has changed much.

While low cost and frequency of maintenance is a selling point for EV customers, dealerships are shooting themselves in the foot because they know that with every EV sold, they are giving up on significant maintenance revenue from those customers which partly explain their lack of enthusiasm for selling them.

 

[callumshell1]

Have you had any issues with the cold weather messing with battery? That's one of my concerns about getting one as someone that lives where it gets pretty cold yearly

It does substantially affect the range, yes. I've only had my personal EV for a few months so I haven't actually driven it in summer, but I have used my uncle's MG4 quite a lot and on the long journey I often have to do (~200 miles round trip on challenging scottish roads) I would comfortably get home with at least 40 miles in the tank, but in winter it was often close to running flat. The winters here aren't even that bad, around -5c.

My recommendation would be to calculate how far the longest journey you often do is, find a car you think should have more than enough range, and then do some research on how it performs in cold conditions. Either that or wait for solid-state batteries, which should perform just fine in the cold.

 

[lithven]

It really comes down to convenience IMO. ICE cars are just more convenient for most people. There's a gas station on every corner and filling up the tank only takes a few minutes. Most areas in the US do not have convenient locations to charge other than in your garage at home (which a lot of people don't have).

I would only pick an EV if it was just as convenient if not moreso than an ICE car and the only way that's possible is if I can charge it at home or if pretty much every random location I might decide I want to visit has a place I can plug in and charge. Every grocery store, every bar, every rest stop, every camp site, etc. The US is not as population dense as Europe or China. There are areas of the country where public charging infrastructure is practically nonexistent.

While this is basically true today once critical mass is reached I think the swing will go hard in the other direction. What percentage of cars on the road are needed to support a dedicated fuel station? On the opposite side adding a Level 2 charger (240V AC) is extremely easy almost anywhere. Sure DC fast charging is a bigger effort but still not an extreme hardship if people are motivated. I see it as only a matter of time before apartment complexes start installing and advertising onsite EV charging as a sales strategy. When talking such a high density setting, it gets even easier since you don't need a full 50-60A per stall in most cases you can easily share a single 50A 240V circuit with half a dozen stalls with minimal or no negative impact on anyone.

I'll add my wife has an ICE she frequently needs to make a special stop or even a dedicated trip to the gas station to refuel while I just need to go outside and plug in my BEV if I remember I need to recharge. Even with the "negative" of long charging it is less effort and dedicate time for me to charge my EV today than it takes my wife to refuel her car.

 

[stormcrash]

Anecdote so take with a grain of salt, but a lot of the newer apartment complexes built in my area (Atlanta) have EV charging spots including with the rest of the amenities they are built with and advertise for residents. My own apartment complex, a 1970s-80s era property that's cheaper but been well maintained over the decades also has EV charging stations installed such that every 4~ buildings has a couple spots.

There's been a lot of change in apartment charger availability over the past few years.

Apartments are probably faster to adopt chargers than condos too, but the rates charged for charging there and making sure there are enough spots and that they're not being hogged mean experiences can vary a lot