Americans Not Exactly Getting Charged Up About EVs

Number of people who own or would buy an electric vehicle is down to 51% from 59% in 2023
Posted Apr 8, 2025 1:12 PM CDT
Americans Not Exactly Getting Revved Up About EVs
A Tesla charging station.   (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)

The Elon Musk-related controversy surrounding Tesla probably isn't helping matters, but America's interest in electric vehicles isn't exactly charging up. As the Washington Post reports, a new Gallup poll shows that the percentage of Americans who own an EV or would be interested in owning one has dropped significantly over the past two years: From 59% in 2023 to 51%. It's not an entirely new phenomenon, as Gallup first noted the drop to 51% during polling about this time last year. "At that time, we weren't attributing it to politics as much as mounting concerns about EVs," says Lydia Saad, director of social research at Gallup. The drive behind the loss in popular opinion is myriad and evolving:

  • The brass tacks: The $5 billion Biden-era National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Act to construct a national charging network didn't exactly roll out quickly, and the Trump administration paused it in February. Saad cited "the practical issues of accessing charging stations, the driving range of these vehicles, those sorts of things" as driving the drop last year.

  • Tax credits and tariffs: The Trump administration is considering a rollback on the $7,500 tax credit that makes EVs more appealing. Tariffs will affect the bottom line in an array of ways for EV makers.
  • Glass half-full: Even though interest isn't spiking, there's still a solid half of the country interested in or already owning an EV, says Corey Cantor, research director at the Zero Emission Transportation Association. "It suggests to me that there's potential on the EV side for 5-times adoption," he says. Currently 10% of all new-car sales are EVs.
  • Partisan lines: Some 55% of Republicans would buy or already have a hybrid, as opposed to 31% on electric vehicles. That's a bit of an uptick over 2023. Democrats, young adults, and college grads all declined in their enthusiasm for EVs—there was an 11% drop from 2023 of those between 18 and 34 who were interested.
  • Maybe the time is right: Actually, it's a great time to buy an EV, write Anjali Bains and Jukka Kukkonen at the Minnesota Reformer. They cite a growing number of public charging stations in that state and the proliferation of Level 2 chargers (a quicker option than Level 1 more typically seen in home charging).
Check out the full poll here. (More electric vehicles stories.)

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