Almost half of American electric vehicle owners, who were contacted for a new survey, want to go back to gasoline-powered vehicles.
A McKinsey & Co. global consumer survey found that 46 percent of American EV owners would like to go back to gas-powered vehicles when they buy their next vehicle, according to Automotive News.
Globally, the figure was 29 percent.
“I didn’t expect that,” said Philipp Kampshoff, leader of McKinsey’s Center for Future Mobility. “I thought, ‘Once an EV buyer, always an EV buyer.’”
EV questions were among the 200 questions McKinsey asked more than 30,000 consumers in 15 countries.
The survey found that a dearth of charging stations was a major headache for EV owners.
Although the Biden administration’s National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program started two years ago, only eight charging stations exist so far due to the program.
Only 23 states have gotten as far as handing out the money Washington approved.
Will EVs ever be as convenient or reliable as traditional gas-powered vehicles?
The survey noted that consumers want EVs to go farther now than they did in 2022. The survey found the minimum range expectations for an EP averaged out to 291.4 miles, up from 270 miles in 2022.
EV repair costs, and the frequency of them, have also soured EV owners on their vehicles, a J.D. Power study has found, according to Yahoo Finance.
The survey of almost 100,000 purchasers and lessees of 2024 vehicles, which took place within 90 days of when they bought the vehicle, showed internal combustion engines came out on top.
Gasoline-powered vehicles averaged 180 problems per 100 vehicles, while battery-electric vehicles were at 266 problems per 100 vehicles.
Frank Hanley, senior director of auto benchmarking at J.D. Power, said the EV owners “are experiencing problems that are of a severity level high enough for them to take their new vehicle into the dealership at a rate three times higher than that of gas-powered vehicle owners.”
“It is not surprising that the introduction of new technology has challenged manufacturers to maintain vehicle quality,” Hanley said.
EVs could also face the withdrawal of the existing $7,500 federal subsidy that the Biden administration and a Democrat-controlled Congress approved, according to Bloomberg.
Of all the credits and clean energy money in the Inflation Reduction Act, EV credits are “hands down the most exposed, no matter how you look at it,” said James Lucier, managing director at research group Capital Alpha Partners.
Former President Donald Trump has criticized the Biden administration’s boosting of EVs.
