Here’s a crazy idea: maybe, just maybe, not everything in America needs to play into our endless culture wars.
But politics alone may be less and less of a factor surrounding an EV purchase, according to new data from the industry research firm AutoPacfiic. According to that data, “political identity is still a factor in electric vehicle (EV) ownership, but it may be becoming less of a factor for future EV acceptance.”
AutoPacific surveyed 12,000 Americans—including EV acceptors, rejectors and current owners—and asked why they did, would or wouldn’t consider going electric. Their reasons for or against are the typical ones. They’re worried about the still-higher costs of EVs, the prevalence or lack of charging, environmental concerns, challenges with cold-weather range and overall range.
But AutoPacfiic says that as EVs, hybrids and plug-in hybrids grow across many car brands’ lineups and continue to decrease in price, that divide is beginning to narrow. “Findings reveal that 54% of current EV owners and 60% of current PHEV owners identify themselves as Democrat compared to 30% of EV owners and 26% of PHEV owners identifying as Republican,” the study said.
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That’s just hard to see from the hyper-charged environment we find ourselves in right before Election Day. As Politico’s E&E News reported recently, politicians on the Democratic side have been advised to stay far, far away from anything EV-related; indeed, you won’t be seeing Kamala Harris out there touting electric investments the way Joe Biden once did. “Voters really, really hate electric cars, so stop talking about them,” said David Schor, a progressive pollster with Blue Rose Research, at an event earlier this summer. Meanwhile, these cars have become a cudgel in multiple battleground states, but especially Michigan. Anti-EV ad spending is through the roof and the entire auto industry is in “wait and see” mode to find out what those subsidies and tax incentives will look like from 2025 onward.
But that’s right now, and any industry-wide transformation is a marathon, not a sprint. Maybe AutoPacific’s data indicates people are coming around, no matter who they want to vote for.
Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com
Credit : insideevs.com
