Why nearly half of EV owners want to switch back to gas vehicles after major buyer’s remorse

Electric vehicles (EV) can benefit the environment, but thousands of owners have expressed regret about purchasing their car.

A consumer pulse from McKinsey Mobility presentation A June 2024 publication by McKinsey & Company shows that 46 percent of EV owners in the US are “very” likely to return to gas-powered cars.

The data is based on responses from nearly 37,000 participants who own an electric car, but it was the American results that particularly surprised the company that conducted the survey.

“I didn’t expect that, I thought: ‘Once an EV buyer, always an EV buyer,’” says Philipp Kampshoff, head of McKinsey’s Center for Future Mobility. Automotive news.

The US ranked second among the nine countries in the study where the most EV users wanted to switch, with the main reason being the low approval rating of EV charging infrastructure.

A total of 35 percent of the survey’s global respondents said they would like to switch back to gas-powered vehicles because charging stations are not ‘yet’ good enough.

Additionally, 34 percent of participants expressed concerns about high total cost of ownership, while another 32 percent were concerned about frequent charging stops during long-distance trips.

Other reasons why EV owners said they wanted to get rid of their car included the inability to charge the vehicle at home, the stress behind charging the car, the mobility change requirements and their overall mediocre experience driving an EV .

The other countries that respondents represented in the survey were Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Italy, Japan and Norway.

Australia was the only location where a higher percentage of EV owners wanted to switch to gas-powered cars than the US

In other countries, the percentages were all lower than 40 percent, with Japan having the most loyal EV owners; only 13 percent were dissatisfied enough to admit they would switch back to gas.

Eleven percent of EV owners who took part in the survey had an issue with the distance of the nearest charging station to their home, and even more strikingly, a total of 38 percent claimed that a charging station was not close to their home at all.

And for long-distance travel and road trips, 40 percent said there weren’t enough charging stations along highways and main roads to justify purchasing the car.

McKinsey & Company released its media presentation three months after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a new rule regarding electric vehicles.

According to the directive, 56 percent of all new vehicle sales must be electric by 2032, and at least 13 percent of these must consist of plug-in hybrids or other partially electric vehicles.

Companies have since started investing billions of dollars in factories and battery technology to speed up the vehicle sales process AP.

This rule is also intended to help reduce pollution and combat climate change, which are key focuses of President Joe Biden’s agenda.

“The electric vehicle market is growing, but consumers have enough reservations about current charging infrastructure options and challenges to limit more significant growth in the near term,” said analyst Jessica Caldwell.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement: “These new standards will not only save Americans money every time they fill up, they will also reduce harmful pollution and make America less dependent on foreign oil.” ‘

Unfortunately, this is not enough to encourage drivers to keep their electric cars.

‘The charging infrastructure is simply not good enough. I think it’s better in areas like California, but most of America doesn’t have enough chargers,” said motorist Michael Woods.

‘You see that EVs are piling up at car dealers because no one wants them. It’s a shame because I really wanted to love mine.’