The survey, conducted over June and July 2023, involved respondents scoring themselves on four criteria related to their experience with electric vehicles (EVs). These included seeing EVs, knowing people who drive them, and being a passenger or driver in EVs. Chris Harto, a senior sustainability policy analyst at Consumer Reports, noted that the lack of experience with EVs may presently be hindering their adoption, but data suggests that once more consumers gain firsthand experience with EVs, demand for them could increase rapidly.
While consumer experience with EVs remains low, the report emphasizes that overall interest in purchasing an EV is strong among prospective buyers. Approximately 38 percent of U.S. buyers planning to purchase a new vehicle in the future would seriously consider buying an EV. Around a third of Americans said they would definitely buy or lease an EV today, or at least seriously consider it, while about 37 percent expressed openness to considering an EV purchase in the future.
[Tesla dominated the top 10 best-selling EVs in the U.S. in 2023]
These findings indicate that although consumer experience with EVs is still limited, there is a significant level of interest in purchasing them among potential buyers in the U.S.