National Motorists Association Blog

By Lauren Fix

A New study says that nearly half of electric vehicle owners likely to switch back to gas. Forty-six percent of U.S. electric vehicle owners are leaning toward switching back to traditional gas cars, according to a new McKinsey and Co. survey, with most of the participants citing difficulties with charging.

Here’s the details: According to the consulting firm’s latest Mobility Consumer Pulse report, U.S. EV owners are the second most likely to have signaled they intend to switch back to internal combustion engine vehicles, right behind Australia.

Respondents spanning the globe presented a wide range of reasons for switching back – with many saying charging was an issue. Thirty-five percent site that public charging infrastructure was not up to par, while 24 percent stated they could not charge at home. Twenty-one percent noted that worrying about charging was “too stressful.” For reasons unrelated to charging, 34 percent reasoned total costs of ownership were too high, 32 percent cited long distance traveling was impaired by the vehicles, 16 percent stated they would have to change mobility requirements, and 13 percent stated they did not like the driving experience.

Here’s why this is important: While the report notes that global purchase intent for EVs is continuing to rise – slowly – nearly half of U.S. drivers admitted they are likely to change back to traditional gas cars underlines the difficulties the U.S. and other governments will face in getting consumers to transition to an EV permanently. The report also found that building out charging infrastructure isn’t only a U.S. problem – it’s a problem for many countries looking to electrify their fleet and lower their emissions.

But, the excitement around EVs is still real. Among current non-EV owners, the share considering a battery EV or a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle has grown between three and four percentage points from December 2021 to February 2024. The number of those who want a new or used ICE has stagnated or declined within the same time period.

Twenty-seven percent of European consumers are likely to consider a Chinese EV brand – which could prove tricky for the EU, considering it decided to impose additional tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China.

Consulting firm McKinsey and Company surveyed two groups of car owners: those who own an electric vehicle and those who own gas-powered cars, who have thought about buying an EV.

The survey found that 46 percent of Americans who own EVs are ready to switch back to owning a gas-powered vehicle. EV owners listed several reasons why they were having buyer’s remorse.

• 35 percent said there was a lack of charging infrastructure.
• 34 percent said the costs were too high.
• 32 percent said planning a long trip was becoming too difficult.
• 24 percent said they had no way of charging their car from their home.
• 21 percent said worrying about keeping their vehicle charged was becoming too stressful.
• 13 percent said they did not enjoy the comfort when driving their EV.

That number shocked Philipp Kampshoff, the leader of the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility. I guess its: once an EV buyer, always an EV buyer.

The McKinsey survey found owners of gas vehicles won’t buy an EV for these reasons.

• 45 percent said electric cars were too expensive.
• 33 percent had concerns about charging them.
• 29 percent said they had range anxiety on how far the car could go before charging it again.
• 58 percent said no way they were ditching their current vehicle.
• 53 percent of electric car owners said on their next car purchase they would trade down, and 18 percent said admitted their skepticism of electric cars because they enjoy driving their gas-powered cars.

The other countries included in the survey were Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Norway. Across all countries surveyed, the average share of respondents who want to ditch their EVs was 29 percent.

U.S. Democrats passed infrastructure legislation in 2021 that committed billions of taxpayer dollars to building a half million charging stations in the U.S. by the end of the decade. But three years later, only seven federally funded chargers have been built to date, and the slow progress has sparked condemnation from both sides of the political aisle.

Rather than forcing the market to adapt to a government-mandated technology, the government should let innovation and competition drive the adoption of EVs. This will lead to more efficient and cost-effective solutions, rather than a top-down approach that will ultimately fail.

Lauren Fix, The Car Coach®, is a nationally recognized automotive expert, analyst, author, and television host.  A trusted car expert, Lauren provides an insider’s perspective on a wide range of automotive topics and aspects, energy, industry, consumer news, and safety issues.

Lauren is the CEO of Automotive Aspects and the Editor-in-Chief of Car Coach Reports, a global automotive news outlet. She is an automotive contributor to national and local television news shows, including Fox News, Fox Business, CNN International, The Weather Channel, Inside Edition, Local Now News, Community Digital News, and more. Lauren also co-hosts a regular show on ABC.com with Paul Brian called “His Turn – Her Turn” and hosts regular radio segments on USA Radio – DayBreak.