New study offers interesting insight into EV owners’ thinking
There’s a new study out that looks into the experience of current and potential US EV owners, whose conclusion pretty much says that electric vehicles will remain a minority unless the car makers manage to both lower the prices and find a way of better demonstrating the potential economic benefits to consumers.
This study was the first from the J.D. power and Associates organization, and it explored the experience of electric vehicle shopping and consideration, alongside the ownership experience of 7600 people during the month of October.
The study has shown that forty-four percent of current electric vehicle owners – when compared to owners of petrol- or diesel-powered vehicles – said that environmental friendliness is the most important benefit of owning an EV.
However, only eleven percent of those who are considering an EV as a future purchase, focus on the environmental benefits, with a solid forty-five percent being much more focused on the economic rewards of reduced fuel costs.
When it comes to those economic rewards, it was reported by current EV owners that their average monthly utility bill increased by about $18 once they began recharging their vehicle at home – as opposed to the $147 average that they would spend on fuel during the same period.
The existing owners of electric vehicles were very focused on the emotional benefits of owning such a car, because they’re having a positive effect on the environment, however the manufacturers must talk about the financial benefits in order to convince the potential customers in order to increase EV sales.
There’s obviously still a problem, a disconnect between the reality of the cost of electric vehicles and the savings that these can help the owner achieve.
Currently EV owners pay a rather large premium on average for their vehicles, and according to this study it would take about six and a half years to recoup that premium in the case of pure EV owners, and up to eleven years for plug-in hybrid owners.
One other interesting finding of the study was that most EV owners show a large degree of brand loyalty, because they would consider buying another EV from their current manufacturer.
