High Fuel Prices to Spark EV Sales Boom

Advertised by the car makers who produce them as weapons against foreign oil dependency or the global warming, EVs have rapidly become, in the eyes of the possible customers, only ways out of the stampeding oil prices.

A survey released this week by Deloitte shows that the vast majority of potential customers would only go for an EV not to save the planet, but to save a few bucks. The survey, conducted on 12,000 consumers globally (1,000 of which in the US) showed that 78 percent of those questioned in the States would choose an EV if the fuel prices reach $5.00 per gallon.

Most of the population in the market for a car consider themselves first movers, most of them in China: US 54 percent, China 93 percent, Europe 69 percent and Japan 48 percent. In the US, on the other hand, it's the need that dictates, only 12 percent of potential buyers considering to become first movers.

"For mass adoption, automakers in the U.S. will be challenged to price electric vehicles to meet the expectations of consumers and still make a profit on them," said Craig Giffi, Deloitte vice chairman. "U.S. consumers are not likely to pay any sort of price premium for EVs. Therefore, government incentives are very important to the purchase decision."

According to the same study, most of the customers questioned globally suffer from range anxiety, most of them expecting their EVs to reach ranges of 200-300 km, more than double the ranges possible using today's technologies. The same people are looking for low recharge times, a difficult feat to achieve using today's technologies.