The Public Likes EVs--in Theory, Anyway
If it weren’t for the high cost, limited range and difficulty of recharging electric cars, about one in four prospective car buyers in Southern California say they would consider owning one, according to a survey released Tuesday.
But the positive attributes of EVs--chiefly the environmental benefits--are far outweighed by practical disadvantages, consumers told researchers for J.D. Power & Associates of Agoura Hills.
“The conundrum is that so many people say they would consider electric cars and yet you see so few on the road,” said Tim Gohmann, director of custom research at Power, a market research firm specializing in the auto industry.
Power interviewed 400 Southern California residents in a random telephone survey during early February. About 23% of those responding said they would consider buying an electric vehicle.
But neither of the two factory-built electric cars currently available to U.S. consumers has exactly sparked a buying frenzy. General Motors introduced the EV1 in December and had delivered 176 as of April 30.
Honda’s EV Plus was launched May 14, and eight have been leased. On Tuesday, Chevrolet began selling its S10 electric pickup truck, but it is restricting sales for now to fleet owners.
Anemic sales of the lease-only EV1 prompted GM to cut prices earlier this month by 25% to $399 a month. Though technologically advanced and hailed as an engineering breakthrough, the car has fallen short even of GM’s modest sales goals: Executives had hoped to be selling 100 per month by now.
Honda is keeping the lease price of its vehicle at $499 a month. The company says it expects to lease only 300 vehicles over the next three years.
Southland auto shoppers have said in numerous interviews that they are put off by the EV1’s limited range--about 60 to 80 miles per charge--and a shortage of public charging stations.
“Range is the single largest advantage of gasoline-powered vehicles and by inference the single largest disadvantage of the EV,” Gohmann said. “Without sufficient range, the issue of being stranded may make the EV be perceived as unreliable.”
There are only 52 electric vehicle recharging stations for public use, mostly at Southland malls and municipal centers. But up to 300 more are promised over the next year.
