Why do most Americans prefer gas-based vehicles instead of electric vehicles?

29 comments

  1. I prefer cheap cars, which are gas-based.

    Is there any country that prefers (as in has sold more of) electric cars vs gas power cars?

  4. I don’t have convenient way to charge it at home, and my state is kind of lagging behind in installing charging stations.

  5. Electric vehicles have a huge upfront cost, and I frequently drive 300+ mile journey segments that have almost zero EV charging infrastructure.

    (Also my home is fed with only a 100 amp service panel.. that might be a little tough in the winter)

  6. Most Americans have never even been in an electric vehicle. Most car dealers do not stock electric vehicles. There are plenty of hybrids to choose from, but not electric.

  7. They are expensive.

    And I don’t want to have to stop every couple hundred miles and find somewhere to charge. That would be annoying as hell.

  8. Midwest here. Two problems with electric: First, in -20° F weather, idk if I would trust an electric to sit all day at work, start up, and drive 15 miles home and retain its charge. Second: when I drive to visit family that live about 350 miles away, not possible on a single charge. There would have to be a recharge somewhere. With a gasoline engine, I can pull into a gas station and be full up in less than 5 minutes.

  10. Gas vehicles exist in large enough quantities and are available at affordable price points

  11. 1. My 2017 Mazda6 GT cost me $16k. It can hold 452 miles of range from what I see on the dash. Find me an EV that cheap that can do that.

    2. I have to often take long trips that’d probably mean I’d have to wait at charging stations for a bit, although that wouldn’t be a huge problem **but**

    3. Electrify America charging stations are hit and miss. You can’t use Tesla superchargers on non-tesla cars. (Yet)

    It’s an infrastructure, pricing, and need problem. You can’t just go Mary Antoinette supposedly going “Let them buy Teslas!”

  13. There is yet to be a good looking pickup truck as far as I know. Though some of the concepts give me hope.

    There isn’t any place to charge near me.

    I live in an area where it can get pretty cold which hampers lithium batteries.

    Price.

  15. Americans prefer gas-based cars for a variety of reasons, some of them being these:

    1. They cost too much compared to gas-powered cars.
    2. You don’t need to wait hours to charge them.
    3. Electric vehicles seem to have low range when compared to gas-based cars.

  16. 1. Price

    2. Uncertainty of the reliability of new technology

    3. Increased complexity of maintenance

    4. Lack of charging stations in certain areas

    5. Not everyone lives/works in a situation that makes charging at home/work viable

    6. Poor range

    I will state that the last time I bought a new vehicle (2018), they were rare enough to basically not be an option, I decided to go with used and there are still basically none in the used market, and I decided to go for a truck (the first electric trucks are only just now hitting the market). I’m probably not going to be shopping for a vehicle again until 2025 at the earliest, so things might change by then. But, as it is points 1, 2, 4, and 6 give me personally enough hesitance that I think I’d rather go for a hybrid instead. Perhaps the tech and infrastructure will change in the future, but as it is I still consider it an experimental tech rather than something that is ready to replace ICE.

  17. I can get over 600 miles on a tank of gas,refill it *anywhere*, and it only takes about five minutes to do so. Electric cas I think are a great idea that is not yet well-implemented.

  18. Price and charging availability. It is easier to go to BP than to find enough public charging stations in parts of the country

  19. Range just isn’t there yet. And especially in cold climates that range is reduced further while you may also be asking it to work harder in the snow. We have a fair amount of electric cars in my area, especially Teslas, but you don’t see them as much in the winter and rarely see them when it’s actively snowstorming.

    Also battery replacement.

  20. Because they suck. They’re stupid expensive, impossible to self maintain, can’t tow anything and generally have worse range than gas cars.

  24. There is nowhere to charge a car in my city. I really don’t understand why they aren’t pushing Hybrids instead of full electric, all the electric cars that aren’t luxury cars are years on backorder, it makes zero sense to own an electric car right now. Not to mention I heard people saying it costs like 10,000 to replace all the batteries in them and you have to do that every few years, the technology is still in its infancy.

    ​

    Until electric is cheaper than gas, why would any non rich person bother?

  25. The only decent electric truck costs about $20k more than what I spent on mine. And I’m not thrilled with its range, which is about half of what I get with a 36 gallon tank.

    Living in a place with hurricanes, I’m also not a fan of having to be dependent on the electrical grid to use my vehicle. Nor the fact that refueling takes me 5 minutes to do now but would take *hours* with an electric vehicle.

    Practical considerations aside, I also just flatly dislike a vehicle that you can’t hear, feel, or even smell. And cars or trucks without grilles just look straight up stupid.

  26. I have range anxiety.

    Also, I want to be able to spend a ton of money on fancy dinosaur juice to drive my inefficient SUV as far as I want at any given time.

    Also, none of this is sarcasm. I’m just too rich and too lazy to care.

  28. Too expensive mostly, and poor selection.

    Lots of people complain about range anxiety even though the average person only drives 35 miles a day and probably needs only to charge once a week at home, the thought of that once a year 200 mile trip scares them.

    A lot of it is just the unknown, electric cars are different, and change is not tolerated here well especially among conservatives.

    Gas is cheap here too compared to European countries.

  29. Will you pay for the cost of me to change from my suv to an electric vehicle that will have less range, less room, less payload, less towing, slower “refueling” and also pay to install the facility to charge at home? If no then you have your answer. For anyone that needs anything more than a sedan or glorified sedan with a tiny bed for relatively local trips an electric vehicle is not ideal. They also aren’t great in the cold of winter which a lot of the US has.

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