27% Likely To Buy An Electric Car in Next 10 Years

Despite renewed concerns about the price of gas, most Americans still aren’t likely to buy an electric car in the next 10 years. 

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 27% of Adults say it’s at least somewhat likely they’ll buy an electric car within the next decade.  That’s down 13 points from early August 2009 when 40% felt that way.  Sixty-four percent (64%) say it’s not likely they’ll purchase an electric vehicle.  (To see survey question wording, click here.)

These findings include just 11% who say it’s Very Likely they’ll purchase an electric car in the next 10 years and 29% who say it’s Not At All Likely.

Clean energy supporters note that electric cars will reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions significantly.  But nearly half (49%) of Americans are more likely to buy an electric car because of high gas prices, not because it's good for the environment.  Twenty-six percent (26%) feel the environment is more of a reason to go electric, but just as many (25%) are not sure.  These figures show little change from October 2008. 

Separate recent polling finds that nearly nine-out-of-10 Americans say they are paying more for gas than they were last summer and expect to pay even more six months from now. Most say $4-a-gallon gas is likely by July 1. 

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The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on January 20-21, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level -of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.