Despite high gas prices, Americans still don’t want electric cars

May 25, 2011 By Andrew Couts

With gas prices still hovering around $4.00 per gallon, Americans are still reluctant to adopt all-electric vehicles.

Not even high gas prices can convince people to buy electric cars. According to a new USA Today/Gallup Poll, 57 percent of respondents said that they wouldn’t buy an all-electric car, even if the price of gas rose above its already-astronomical levels.

This finding spits in the face of President Obama’s goal of a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015, and the auto industry, which has already begun to make moves towards an all-electric fleet. And new federal regulations could require automakers to develop gas-electric hybrids capable of achieving 62 miles per gallon by 2025.

Upon further inspection of the poll, however, all may not yet be lost for proponents of electric vehicles. The question defined the vehicles in question as “an electric car that you could only drive for a limited number of miles at one time.” While this remains very much true for current electric cars — the 2011 Chevy Volt, for instance, can travel between 20 and 50 miles on a single charge — it won’t always be true, as battery technology improves. In fact, the upcoming generation of electric cars, like the Nissan Leaf and the Mitsubishi “i” can travel between 70 and 80 miles on a charge. But it seems that, for now, all-electric vehicles face an uphill climb.

Electric vehicles “”are very much niche vehicles,” says Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl. “They find acceptance among a core group of passionistas, but too many questions remain for mainstream consumers.”

Research from JD Power and Associates indicates that all-electric vehicles won’t always be relegated to only the greenest corners of the consumer market. Sales of pure electrics will be slightly less than 11,000 this year, research shows, but will rise to nearly 100,000 sold by 2015. Total US light-vehicle sales are currently around 13 million, but are expected to rise to 14 million by 2015.

Nissan, whose all-electric Leaf debuted in December, took a more glass-half-full approach to the poll, saying that “as many as 40 percent are considering driving electric vehicles.” Nissan has sold about 1.044 Leafs, as of April.

Showing 19 comments

amfortas at 2:28am 26th May 2011 I'm not surpriseed that a typical stupid, smug foreigner can't figure out that American's don't want electric cars at the moment because they're too costly and only have a limited mileage per charge, which is crippling to anyone who commutes to work or even anywhere considering the U.S. is a large country.
TuEKiD at 5:59pm 25th May 2011 What! That's based off "The poll of 1,024" people? This is the worst article I've ever seen, no real credit. I want an electric car, I'm sick of big oil, sick of ruining our planet; this article is like a stunt from some big wig oil baron. Maybe get a credible survey of the some 100million+ driving population because everyone I know is sick of Oil and sees the potential of creating jobs across every spectrum without it...
1. RayD at 5:25am 26th May 2011 I too want one, but not from what's being offered. I want a single-seater commuter that protects me from the elements (read: can drive it when it rains). Having a 100 mi range is fine, but I want it to be closer to $5k rather than $40K. I WANT it to have the cheaper lead-acid batteries. What's the point of saving money on gas now only to pay it all back and more with a lump sum battery replacement 3 years later? It can even have 3 wheels instead of 4 so it doesn't have to meet the rigid and expensive car safety standards (classified as a motorcycle). Yes, I have my motorcycle license. Is this a niche vehicle? Yes, but I bet it's a bigger niche than the current electric car market. How many have $40k+ to plop down on a Chevy Volt these days vs $5k for a BRAND NEW vehicle. Also, take a look around and see the high % of 1 person per vehicle cars on the road. For that matter, make it a 2 seater and that's a HUGE % of cars on the road.
  1. TuEKiD at 1:48pm 26th May 2011 Good points, truth is the way these electric vehicles are designed maybe numbered because of advancements being designed to the engine it self like the use of the new Shock Wave engine. This design is extremely cheap to produce as well. My main point really was the fact this the title of this article is so misleading its really annoying, the survey was based off 1,024 people, really? 1k people from New York to Fairfax County??? Here's some information on the shockwave engine. http://www.digitaltrends.com/green-technology/new...
TuEKiD at 5:08pm 25th May 2011 WHAT! Who said that??? I want everyone in America to own an electric car, and everyone I know wants an electric car. This article is like a stunt by some big oil big wig.How many people voted on this poll? 1k?
John Turner at 10:49pm 25th May 2011 if americans spent all their money on electric cars Mcdonalds would go bust lol
Cassie Reeder at 9:40pm 25th May 2011 Because most people with common sense realize that electricity isn't free. You pay for it just like you pay for gas, and it's price rises up and down just as oil does. Electricity isn't some magic force, it has to come from somewhere... be that coal, nuclear, wind, water, ect.
Damon Schmitt at 8:43pm 25th May 2011 Also, many people don't want to invest so much in a purely commuter/town car. Portland is 70-100 miles from nearby beaches for example, and it seems ridiculous to think that I would spend $20k on a car that can't get me there (and back would be nice!).
Danny Ear at 8:23pm 25th May 2011 cuz they all look like shit thats why. who wants to drive an ugly looking car that cost more to buy
x7judy at 1:16pm 25th May 2011 Thats ridicules, pretty soon we can have cars going 200-300 miles on a charge for way less then the cost of gas.
Joe Lachiana at 8:09pm 25th May 2011 Of course we don't want to BUY an electric car for the same reason we don't want to pay high gas prices...it costs too much! $35k+ for a car that's the equivalent to an old lady commuter car for $15K. I
Daron Gildow at 8:06pm 25th May 2011 I love the idea of an electric car, but as mentioned above there are a few issues with them. 1. Range, we need something we can go 500+ miles in one day of driving/touring the coast line with. 2. recharge time. it has to be a lot faster to recharge (EG under 1 hour). 3. Better battery tech, we can get an Ipad to play for 10 hours why are cars not scaling up very well? (IDK, battery tech is not my area of knowlege) 4. Costs, it should not be prohibitivly exspencive to buy over a gas vehicle, other wise it will be a toy for the rich (Tesla?), the percent of population that needs it the least. but these are my reasons and Ia m sure there are more if I sat and though them out a bit more and did a lot of googleing to find more reasons/exscueses..
Chris Johnson at 8:03pm 25th May 2011 Well, I think the people in this thread have already summed up what I was going to say. The only thing I can add is that is that do states really have the money to start building charging stations so people can charge their car if they need to or from out of town? Since DT is based in Oregon, I think any resident will agree that Oregon doesn't have the money to do this, nor will it in the future**I do recall an article saying that Oregon might be already doing this so if I am incorrect, feel free to call me on it.
Tim Bledsoe at 8:00pm 25th May 2011 I want a GOOD electric car, that's styled normally. Quit making electrics look like suppositories on wheels.
Gareth Dix at 7:50pm 25th May 2011 Because they cost more initially, don't last as long, don't have a long enough range and take too long to charge back up to go another 40 miles. When you consider that producing/disposing the batteries used in them cost the environment more than building a standard car I fail to see what the benefit is. In 15 years time when the technology catches up it might be viable but not now
Verbal Orchid at 7:50pm 25th May 2011 And the reason the mass majority doesn't want electric cars is simple economics. Electric cars are STILL pricier than gas powered vehicles here, so with everyone hurting for money these days, they simply can't afford to invest even if they KNOW it would be better in the long run for them and the environment as a whole.
Andrew Hinze at 7:49pm 25th May 2011 Because a toaster is something you plug in...not your car. No replacement for displacement!
Verbal Orchid at 7:48pm 25th May 2011 America is relatively low compared to most other countries, UK being one of them, Canada - shit, 7 years ago gas was the US$ equivalent of 4.00 per gallon there.
Xander Burns at 7:45pm 25th May 2011 high gas prices? try living in uk.