WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Seven percent of Americans, up from 4% a year ago, report that they own an electric vehicle. That increase is matched by an equal decline in the percentage saying they are seriously considering buying one, from 12% to 9%.
Meanwhile, fewer Americans -- 35%, down from 43% in 2023 -- say they might consider buying an EV in the future. Thus, even as some people have moved ahead with their intent to buy an EV in the past year, public demand for the cars has contracted.
Overall, less than half of adults, 44%, now say they are either seriously considering or might consider buying an EV in the future, down from 55% in 2023, while the proportion not intending to buy one has increased from 41% to 48%.
The results are based on a March 1-20 Â鶹´«Ã½AV poll. The findings conform with recent decisions by some auto companies to reduce their electric-vehicle investments after EV market growth has fallen short of expectations. Weak consumer demand for the vehicles has also compelled the Biden administration to issue a less-aggressive schedule of emission-reduction targets for auto companies.
The federal government had hoped that by 2030, 60% of new vehicle production would consist of EVs. But that appears unlikely to occur unless consumer preferences change rapidly in the coming years. A steady 16% of Americans over the past two years have indicated that they are EV consumers, either owning one or seriously considering buying one.
Income, Age, Politics Key Factors Tied to EV Ownership and Consideration
Upper-income Americans are the subgroup most likely to own an EV, with 14% doing so, up from 6% last year. This relationship may reflect the much higher purchase price of EVs compared with traditional gasoline-powered vehicles.
Another 11% of upper-income Americans are seriously considering buying an EV. The combined 25% compares with 14% of middle-income and 9% of lower-income Americans who own or are seriously considering buying an EV.
Sixty-one percent of lower-income Americans say they would not buy an EV, up 18 percentage points from 43% in 2023, the biggest increase among major subgroups. In general, most subgroups show higher percentages now than a year ago saying they would not buy an electric vehicle.
EV ownership is generally similar among age groups -- between 8% and 10% -- except for the oldest Americans, among whom ownership is 3%. Older Americans are also much less likely than their younger counterparts to be seriously considering getting an EV.
Those on the political left -- Democrats and liberals -- are more likely than those on the right (Republicans and conservatives) to be in the EV market. Twenty-seven percent of liberals own or are considering an EV, higher than for any other subgroup.
Meanwhile, the 7% market among conservatives essentially ties with senior citizens as the lowest among subgroups. Conservatives and Republicans are the two groups with the highest percentages saying they wouldn’t consider an EV.
Climate Change Worry and EV Ownership
Electric vehicles are seen as a major way for the U.S. to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions that are linked to climate change. As such, one would expect that those most concerned about climate change would be the most likely to own, or want to purchase, an EV. However, 8% of those who worry “a great deal” about climate change own an EV, similar to the 9% of those who worry “a fair amount” about climate change. This likely reflects that lower-income and younger people tend to be most worried about climate change. And while those who worry only a little or not at all about climate change are less likely to own an EV, 5% do.
Those who worry the most about climate change do outpace their peers in seriously considering buying an EV, at 14%, compared with 8% of those who worry a fair amount about climate change and 3% who aren’t worried about it.
The same patterns of EV ownership and desired ownership by climate change concern were apparent in last year’s data.
Implications
Â鶹´«Ã½AV data confirm that the U.S. market for electric vehicle ownership remains fairly limited, with about one in six Americans currently owning one or seriously considering purchasing one. The size of that market is unchanged since last year, although it has shifted toward more owning and fewer seriously considering buying an EV.
Unless that market expands greatly in the next few years, it is unlikely auto companies doing business in the U.S. will be able to meet the emissions targets laid out by the Biden administration. Those targets may need to be relaxed further if Biden is reelected, or they may be done away with under a second Trump administration.
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