More than half of Americans do not like electric vehicles. A Wall Street Journal poll recently explained why the majority of Americans prefer traditional vehicles to electrical ones. 

A new poll by the Wall Street Journal showed that 61% of Americans do not like electric vehicles. They prefer traditional gas-powered vehicles, which pose a higher threat to the environment.

However, this was not the case before, as many people used to love electric vehicles. Therefore, this poll intended to provide insight into the reason for the switch. 

Electric vehicles (EVs) used to be very loved in the United States of America and even in other places like China.

However, it may seem as though the market is not flourishing like it once was. Top electric vehicle manufacturers like Tesla and BYD have reported a decline in performance for the first quarter of the year. This is a surprising decline, showing that people are no longer as excited about EVs as they used to be. 

The Wall Street Journal recently conducted a poll to ask Americans why they do not like electric vehicles. It involved 864 participants from various parts of the country.

In the poll, they listed many reasons, which ranged from mileage range to safety concerns to cost. While the dealers and manufacturers of EVs have tried to address people’s concerns by dropping their prices, nothing has worked yet. 

The cost of electric vehicles is quite high, and it wasn’t surprising that this was the reason that the poll participants gave the highest ranking. 72% of the respondents complained about the high costs of EVs. 

However, 17% of them said that the costs were a minor reason. The remaining 11% said that it wasn’t a reason at all.

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Following closely behind the high costs was the second reason that 65% of the poll’s respondents believe discourages them from buying EVs. This reason was that there weren’t many charging stations readily available for users. In California, which has more stations than other states, there is only one fast-charging station for every five gas stations in the state. 

The third major reason Americans dislike electric vehicles is that they believe they are less reliable than gas-powered vehicles. A considerable 64% of the respondents believe this. Last year, a Consumer Reports survey stated that 79% of EVs are more likely to develop spontaneous problems than regular cars.

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At 63%, the next major reason participants believe EVs are not so great is that they feel the ranges of the cars are quite limited. In 2022, the Department of Energy reported that EVs had about 60% of the driving range that regular cars have. However, EV performances can vary based on the model, motor efficiency, driving conditions, and battery capacity of the car.

The performance of the vehicles is the next reason Americans do not like EVs. A considerable 57% of these Americans believe that the performance level of EVs is quite low compared to gas-powered ones. While EVs have a higher acceleration rate, they do not have higher speeds. Therefore, EVs are good for people who do not mind the lower speed. 

The sixth reason Americans do not like EVs is that they believe they are unsafe. In fact, they believe gas-powered vehicles are more safe than EVs because they use electricity. However, data shows otherwise. EVs are sometimes safer than gas vehicles as they are less likely to catch fire when static or in an accident. 

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Coming in at number seven is a reason that 36% of the respondents agree with. They are quite concerned about the fact that most of the materials used to make EVs are made in China.

This is also a political concern for the Americans who do not like to import things from the Asian country and believe that the government should ban all imports from China. 

Political views and a lack of concern for climate change are two other reasons Americans do not like EVs. The concept of EVs is a significant cultural war between people with varying political perspectives, as some support climate change while others do not acknowledge it. Therefore, EVs are being viewed in a political light, causing a divide.

The last and tenth reason some Americans do not like electric vehicles comes from a 15% minority vote. These people believe that they do not always find the models they want from EV brands.

Most people want very specific characteristics that align with their own preferences and not necessarily the industry standards. Therefore, people prefer gas-powered vehicles over EVs.

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