Despite President Biden’s relentless push to force us to drive electric vehicles, a whopping 46 percent of American EV owners aren’t satisfied with their purchase and are thinking about switching back to a car with that reliable old faithful, the ICE (internal combustion engine—in other words, gas-powered). The ICE has been at the heart of the U.S. auto industry for almost 150 years.
The results of the survey, conducted by McKinsey and Co., shocked even the pollsters:
McKinsey & Co.'s Mobility Consumer Pulse for 2024, released this month, found that 46% of EV owners in the U.S. said they were "very" likely to switch back to owning a gas-powered vehicle in their next purchase.
The high percentage of Americans who want to make a switch even surprised the consulting firm.
"I didn't expect that," the head of McKinsey's Center for Future Mobility, Philipp Kampshoff, told Automotive News. "I thought, 'Once an EV buyer, always an EV buyer.'"
🚃Nearly 30% of EV Owners Want to Switch Back
— Truflation (@truflation) June 26, 2024
McKinsey Mobility Consumer Pulse report claims a signifcant percentage of EV owners globally likely to switch back to ICE, mostly because of difficulties with charging.
The report also found:
Over the past 12 months market cap of… pic.twitter.com/VX6xk0dmZb
Note: The "nearly 30%" cited in the above tweet is the percentage of all owners surveyed, not just Americans. As stated, 46 percent of American EV owners are dissatisfied.
Not surprisingly, the two biggest factors for unhappy customers are related to charging ability and price. Thirty-five percent cited their reason for wanting to return the vehicle as “lack of available charging infrastructure,” while 34 percent said that the total cost of owning an EV was too high. Meanwhile, almost a third (32 percent) were concerned that their long-distance driving patterns were negatively affected due to their reliance on an EV.
But I thought Biden threw $7.5 billion at new chargers and promised that huge numbers of them would be up and running by now?
Not so much:
Buttigieg Flails Trying to Explain Why Only 8 EV Charging Stations Have Been Built by Biden Admin
It’s not just Americans who wish they could have chosen differently; many consumers across the world feel the same way:
In the poll of nearly 37,000 consumers worldwide, Australia was the only country with a greater percentage, 49%, of EV owners than the U.S. who said they were ready to return to owning an internal combustion engine.
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%.
I have nothing against electric vehicles, and if someone wants to own one, they should be able to go out and purchase whatever the heck they desire. It’s Biden’s dictatorial approach to governing though, that is the problem here. He constantly issues onerous regulations, tax credits, and impossible emissions standards in trying to force consumers to buy something many don't want. It's illustrative of his entire governing philosophy—he wants to use the vast powers of the state not to better the lives of average Americans but to force his ideology on them.
EV technology has come a long way, but there are still many issues: problems charging in cold weather, battery fires, lack of charging stations, too-short battery life—the list goes on. They might be perfect for urban drivers with short commutes, but are they really what the rancher in remote Wyoming needs? No.
Left out in the cold:
'We Got a Bunch of Dead Robots Out Here'—Tesla Charging Stations Freeze in Chicago
It’s probable that the subject will come up in Thursday night’s presidential debate—and I hope Trump freakin' nails him on it.
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