New-vehicle buyer consideration over purchasing a fully electric vehicle is increasing, albeit slowly, according to the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Electric Vehicle Consideration Study. This year’s study reveals that 26% of shoppers say they are “very likely” to consider purchasing an EV, up from 24% a year ago, while the percentage of shoppers who say they are “overall likely” to purchase an EV increased to 61% from 59% in 2022.  

Influencing the modest year-over-year increases are a combination of positive and negative market factors: lower gas prices, inflation, rising interest rates, greater model availability and charging availability. Charging availability is growing more slowly year over year (13% vs. 33% in 2022), while model availability has increased, with 42% of buyers now having a viable EV model that meets their needs

Nearly half (49%) of non-considerers say their primary reason for not purchasing a BEV is a lack of charging station availability. Charging access has been the top issue for consideration to switching to a BEV since the inception of the study in 2021. In fact, across all J.D. Power EV studies, public charging infrastructure consistently scores low in satisfaction. “Most EV owners will say charging is one of the greatest benefits of ownership, because 85% of it is done at home,” said Stewart Stropp, head of J.D. Power’s EV Intelligence. “But it’s the exceptional use case—like a vacation road trip—that’s holding shoppers back. Proactively taking ownership of the public charging experience is a huge opportunity for automakers to differentiate. The recent announcements by Ford and GM to establish a charging collaboration with Tesla are particularly noteworthy.”