The Biden administration and Democrats who control Congress have been pushing green energy and electric vehicles on the country at a quickening pace, but a new study is bad news for their agenda.
It seems that for now at least, there are few too few Americans who actually want an electric vehicle to sustain the massive investments car companies and the administration are making in the vehicles.
According to Jessica Rabe of DataTrek Research, just 14 percent of more than 8,000 respondents in a new survey said that they would “definitely” buy an EV, nowhere near enough to support “a vibrant used EV market.”
“Consumer Reports recently released the results of its nationally representative survey of 8,027 American adults on their views towards electric vehicles. Here were the major takeaways,” she wrote, adding:
- On buying/leasing an EV: Fourteen percent of respondents said they “would definitely buy or lease an electric-only vehicle”, over half (57%) said they would consider/seriously consider it and more than a quarter (28%) said they would not consider buying one.
-
Obstacles to buying/leasing an EV: The top 3 concerns preventing respondents from buying or leasing an electric-only vehicle were:
- “Charging logistics, such as where and when I’d be able to charge it” (61%),
- “number of miles the vehicle can go before it needs to be charged” (55%) and
- “costs involved with buying, owning and maintaining an electric-only vehicle” (52%).
-
When it comes to cost-related factors preventing respondents from buying or leasing an EV, the top 3 were:
- “purchase price” (58 pct),
- “maintenance and repair costs” (40 pct) and
- “the cost to install a home charger” (30 pct).
-
In terms of charging-related concerns holding people back, the top 3 were:
- “not enough public charging stations” (59 pct),
- “nowhere to plug in my car to charge at home” (44 pct) and
- “inconvenience of charging” (42 pct).
- Knowledge of tax incentives: Almost half (46 pct) of respondents had not heard of any incentives available for EV owners. Just over a third (34 pct) knew about “tax rebates/discounts at the time of purchase or lease”.Further, most respondents (60 pct) said they are not too familiar or not familiar at all with the fundamentals of owning an EV. Most respondents have not driven (93 pct) or been a passenger (83 pct) in an EV over the last year.
The key takeaway is that the survey measures how receptive Americans are to new and used EVs. For the market to be “robust and sustainable,” Rabe added, “it will need to achieve broader adoption to support the EV ecosystem that helps drive resale values and affordable lease rates.”
But what about this ‘transition’ to an economy devoid of fossil fuels? A former Trump administration official and economist, Larry Kudlow, is predicting economic disaster.
Kudlow — during an interview in early June with Fox News’ Sandra Smith — was addressing remarks from Biden over the previous weekend during a trip to Asia in which he used the term “transition” often to signal his plans for the U.S. economy.
“Yeah, quiet part out loud. Defending essentially high gasoline prices. As you know, oil is at $120 a barrel today. I just want to tell you, any so-called transition to a green economy that ends fossil fuels would be an economic catastrophe,” Kudlow began.
“It would be a permanent recession. We couldn’t possibly do that or afford that. The job losses would be in the tens of millions. I am not exaggerating. A lot of first-rate economists have made the same point of view. So I’m leery of this transition,” Kudlow continued.
“And in Biden’s piece today in The Wall Street Journal, he starts talking about more investment credits and more tax credits for green. It’s the Green New Deal, you know, it’s a sheep in sheep’s clothing, it’s the Green New Deal masquerading as the Green New Deal,” he added.
“That dream, that craziness, that wokeness is going to destroy our economy. If that’s what they mean by transition, and I think it is, then we’re in for it,” he said.
KNOW MORE: