A STUDY has revealed the reasons a growing percentage of electric car owners are switching back to fuel-powered cars.

University of California Davis researchers found that around 20 percent of drivers who buy EVs return to gas-powered cars.

The researchers discovered more than 4,000 households who own or previously owned electric vehicles in California went back to gas and diesel cars

The researchers discovered more than 4,000 households who own or previously owned electric vehicles in California went back to gas and diesel cars.

“Here, on the basis of results from five questionnaire surveys, we find that PEV discontinuance in California occurs at a rate of 20 [percent] for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle owners,” the study posted in Nature Energy journal by researchers Scott Hardman and Gil Tal read.

“And 18 [percent] for battery electric vehicle owners.”

The study focused on the reasons that led drivers to switch back to gas, and when broken down, the reasonings aren’t too surprising at all.

Within the study, the researchers went on to say: “We show that discontinuance is related to dissatisfaction with the convenience of charging.”

Other issues those who took the survey had with their EVs have to do with increased energy household consumption for those who are lucky enough to charge their vehicles at their homes.

“Having fewer household vehicles and not being male,” were also listed as reasons EV owners make the switch back to gas.

EV is all the rage in recent times as more people try to make sustainable choices so it may be surprising to know that so many people don’t remain happy with their electric vehicles.

1. HOME CHARGING

One of the major problems the EV owners seemed to express facing has to do with not having access to level 2 charging at home.

The biggest consumer advantage that all-electric vehicle makers stress to consumers is the potential of always having a hypothetical full tank overnight without having to go to the gas station.

Electric cars are said to receive the “full tank of gas” in less than two hours when charged at home.

The problem stems from most homes in California not being optimized for charging EVs and People who live in apartments run into the same problem of not having parking with access to charging.

This alone really hinders the EV ownership experience.

Without a home charging station, those EV owners have to solely rely on public charging stations, which is not always the smoothest experience, according to electric transport news outlet Electrek.

Despite being rare in some areas or even often being at capacity in the places you can find PEV charging, the networks have been trying to add more stations in urban areas to address the issue.

2. ENERGY CONSUMPTION

Researchers found the daily average home energy usage people use to charge their EVs to be more than twice what they estimated.

They expected EV-owning households to use around 2.9 kilowatts daily to charge their car.

The study found that, on average, electric car owners use between 7.2-8 kilowatts.

3. WOMEN EV OWNERS

A major surprising factor that appears to influence the percentage of people going back to gas from EVs is that owners of electric cars who are women go back to fuel at a higher rate than men.

Less than 30 percent of electric vehicles were purchased by women in 2021, a survey found.

It’s said that this may likely have to do with the kinds of electric vehicles people are buying.

That being said, Tesla owners are the least likely to trade back their EVs for gas, The Hill reported.

Apparently, Fiat 500e buyers have a much higher likeliness of switching back to a gas car.

A newer survey from 2022 found that 47 percent of women say that they’d be interested in purchasing one in the next five years, compared with 53 percent of men.

4. MULTI HOME VEHICLES

Energy experts found that 60 percent of households with an EV additionally have a “large,” non-electric vehicle like an SUV, truck or minivan.

Among U.S. households with an EV, 36 percent reportedly have more vehicles than drivers, compared to 24 percent for other U.S. households. 

Because of this, it could get difficult for families to keep up with the various types of maintenance the different car makes require, specifically when it comes to the specific care EVs need.

In homes with multiple cars including an EV vehicle, two-thirds of the households drive the non-electric vehicle more miles per year, according to Energy Institute at Haas.

The less convenient it is to use a means of transportation, the less likely you may be to use it leading to some of these families eventually not finding the benefit of owning an EV.

For example, if you have two gas-powered cars in your home and one EV, the electric car will need more particular care than the other vehicles.

This could make the EV maintenance a bit extra work than the other household cars which, over time, is inconvenient and hard to juggle.

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