Gary Zhou 
It seems like the American public is just about willing to accept the EV revolution, in the wake of the announcement of Tesla’s record-breaking figures for 2020, which saw the electric car manufacturer build and distribute half a million vehicles amid a pandemic. This was emphasized in a survey conducted by Consumer Reports, which revealed that American car buyers are just about ready to accept the Tesla and EV era.
The new nationally representative electric car survey by Consumer Reports shows that public awareness of EVs is making moves into the mainstream. While only about 30 percent of respondents in the survey reported that they were especially familiar with electric vehicles, almost all respondents had at least heard of EVs. The interest in electric cars was extremely strong, with 71 percent of US drivers saying that at some stage in the future they would consider purchasing an electric car.
Almost one-third of the respondents in the survey suggested that they are interested in buying an electric vehicle for their next car. More than 70 percent of the respondents in the study also agreed on the notion that electric vehicles would be safer for the environment and that, in addition to their car EV offerings, automakers could sell more vehicle styles such as plug-in electric pickups and SUVs.
Overall, the findings of the Consumer Reports survey show that consumers are now constantly becoming more conscious of electric vehicles. And although there are still some questions about challenges such as the availability of on-road charging stations, Chris Harto, senior sustainability policy analyst at CR, noted that for a large number of electric car owners, the use of public charging stations is currently very uncommon.
“American drivers are accustomed to having ready access to gas stations, and may not realize that if they have a personal garage or driveway, they’ll be doing most of their charging at home with an EV. Even though we have found that the typical driver would make as few as six stops at a public charging station every year, a more robust network of fast-charging stations would help alleviate buyers’ concerns about switching to an electric vehicle,” Harto said.
The success and development of businesses such as Tesla have been invaluable in driving the revolution in electric vehicles in the midst of this transition. For one, Tesla’s Supercharger Network was developed and ramped up at a time when only one vehicle was manufactured by the company, and in very limited numbers. But the Supercharger Network stands as one of the most convenient and efficient rapid charging networks in the world, years down the line. And given that with its Supercharger ramp, Tesla is only becoming more aggressive, the rapid-charging system seems poised to also be available to other EVs.
What’s very interesting is that the EV revolution is moving way beyond Tesla right now. Although, thanks to its head start in battery technology and software, Tesla is still poised to lead the market, other compelling electric cars from other automakers are also being launched. With its R1T pickup and R1S SUV, both of which are intended to make waves in the luxury adventure market, there is Rivian. For luxury vehicles like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the Air sedan from Lucid Motors is coming. As demonstrated by the efforts of VW exec Herbert Diess, a noted ally of Elon Musk, even legacy automakers like Volkswagen are making some serious bets on electric vehicles.
As electric cars go mainstream and vehicles such as Model 3 and Model Y become more achievable, there is a major decrease in reasons for sticking with the internal combustion engine. After all, gas and diesel-powered vehicles are only going to be less convincing, with various regions like Europe and China aiming to ban ICE cars in the coming years. And electric vehicles like Tesla’s lineup are only bound to get more and more appealing in the midst of this decline.
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