Americans Still Worry About EV Range More Than EV Prices, Study Finds

• Americans say range and charging anxiety rank are the top barriers to going fully electric, not price
• The EV share of all new vehicle purchases declined after the tax credit ended, indicating that price still matters a lot.
• Home charging access is a major bottleneck, prompting many to choose hybrids instead.

The end of the federal clean-vehicle tax credit led to a decline in EV market share, clearly showing that price matters a lot. However, a new study found that Americans cite range and charging time more often than cost as EV concerns, and that they are even more likely to cite these factors when hesitating.

Deloitte recently published its 2026 Global Automotive Consumer Study, which surveyed over 28,500 people from 27 countries between October and November 2025. It found that 47% of Americans surveyed reported that the range of electric vehicles was the top concern keeping them from buying an EV. Next came charging time, cited by 44% of respondents as a concern, followed by overall cost, mentioned by 40%.

EV purchase intent only rose from 5% of respondents to 7% in 2025 compared to 2024, while remaining flat for pure combustion and hybrids (including PHEVs) at 61% and 26%, respectively. That shows interest in pure electric vehicles remains low in the U.S., and the main reason why 52% of those questioned would consider going electric is EVs’ lower running cost. They’re especially low if you are able to charge at home, not using public networks.

However, there appears to be a bottleneck: 77% noted that they plan to charge their EV at home, while 53% reported not having access to a dedicated home charger. It’s unclear what percentage had a parking situation that would allow for an easy charger install, but just didn’t have the charger yet.

The gist of it seems to be that U.S. car buyers are not abandoning EV adoption, but they are pragmatic and don’t just want to go electric because it’s better for local air quality, especially if it ends up costing them more money than a comparable combustion car. That’s why the popularity of hybrids and PHEVs went up around the world, including in the U.S., in 2025.

We are now witnessing the predictable post-tax-credit slowdown in EV sales, but they will continue to gain popularity for the foreseeable future, albeit not as quickly as they would have with the $7,500 incentive still in place. Losing the tax credit had an immediate impact, with Cox Automotive noting that the EV share of total sales fell from the 11.6% in September spike to 5.8% in October, the first month without the incentive.

That’s still lower than months like January and May, when EVs made up 7.7% and 6.9% of all new car sales in America, respectively. We’ll see how things shake out in the beginning of 2026.

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With more affordable models to choose from, like the new Chevrolet Bolt and Equinox EVs, the Nissan Leaf, and Standard versions of the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y, buyers have plenty of solid options if they want to go electric without paying much more than $40,000.

Respondents appeared less loyal to specific brands, with 53% reporting that they plan to buy a different brand. Quality was the primary driver for 58% of them when selecting another brand, followed by performance (51%) and price (46%).

They also reported that the idea of over-the-air updates improving cars over time was an attractive prospect, with 62% saying they would pay more for a vehicle with this functionality, underscoring the importance of the software-defined vehicle shift for buyers.