The latest Gallup report sheds light on the current state of the electric vehicle (EV) market. Currently, only 16 percent of Americans are engaged with the EV market, either as owners or potential buyers, a figure that has remained stable over the past two years. This small number has prompted some automakers to scale back their EV investments while dealers struggle with moving units off their lots.
There has been slight momentum in 2024. According to Kelley Blue Book, nearly 269,000 electric vehicles were sold in the U.S. in the first quarter, a 2.6 percent increase from the same period last year, but a 7.3 decrease from the final quarter of 2023.
What’s behind this lackluster adoption? Industry analysts agree on three specific roadblocks: price, infrastructure concerns, and range anxiety. According to the Kelley Blue Book Report, EV ownership is currently skewed towards upper-income Americans with 14 percent owning an EV and 61 percent of lower-income respondents expressing disinterest in EVs.