One out of five electric car buyers return to gas-powered cars

A new study has revealed that one in five early adopters of electric vehicles are going back to using internal combustion engines leading to a fall in the price of electric vehicles (EVs).

According to the study published in Nature, of those early adopters of EVs in California from 2012 through 2018, 20 percent of those who opted for plug-in hybrids have returned to gas-powered vehicles, while 18 percent of EV drivers returned to internal combustion engines with their next vehicle purchase.



One demographic is those who moved to a new place with no Level 2 chargers, which could be related to migration away from urban centers to more suburban and rural areas during the Covid pandemic.

Drivers also cited “dissatisfaction with the convenience of charging” as a reason to return to gas-powered vehicles.

Additionally, households with fewer vehicles were more likely to opt for a return to gas-powered vehicles, as well as any household that bought an EV but kept at least one less efficient vehicle.

Women were more likely to return to a gas-powered vehicle than men, according to the study.

In June it was revealed that over one thousand employees of the Ford Motor Company would be losing their jobs as a result of a significant loss of revenue due to electric vehicle investment efforts. Additionally, the automaker is expecting to lose $3 billion in electric vehicle operating profit in 2023, and the company's current operating costs are $7 billion to $8 billion, higher than any other competitor, which has forced the company to lay off employees, along with other cost-saving measures.