First-Ever Multi-State Study on Electric Vehicle Shopping Experience #ElectricVehicle #CleanTransportation

To learn more about what is working well and what could be improved in the plug-in electric vehicle (EV) marketplace, the Sierra Club launched Rev Up EVs — the first-ever multi-state study into the consumer EV shopping experience. Based on surveys from Sierra Club volunteers who called or visited 308 different auto dealerships and stores across ten states to inquire about EVs, the study finds that there is tremendous room for improvement among the dealerships and the automakers.

“Cleaner, greener and often cheaper, EVs are in high demand. Unfortunately, many automakers and dealers are failing to meet this demand,” said Mary Lunetta, the Sierra Club’s Electric Vehicles Initiative Campaign Representative and co-author of the report. “Ranging from not carrying electric vehicles on the lot, to insufficiently charging them for test drives, to not featuring them prominently, to not informing customers of charging capabilities or tax incentives, it’s clear auto dealerships and automakers need to be doing much better to promote and sell electric vehicles.”

To decrease carbon emissions and other air pollutants, California instituted a Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which requires automakers to sell increasing numbers of EVs. Now followed by ten states, California, Oregon, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, the mandate is up for review by the California Air Resources Board this year. The Rev Up EVs report shows there is much more the industry can do to comply with the ZEV mandate  in these ten states.

The report includes transcripts from the survey results to provide testimonials of volunteer experiences.

“I called the dealership and said I’d like to test drive an EV. They said they had several. A few hours later, I received an email stating they had no EVs on the lot and I’d have to visit the Bay Area to find any,” said Sally E., a volunteer who visited a Volkswagen dealership in California.

Key findings of today’s report include:

“While automakers may claim their low electric vehicle sales are a result of low demand, the Rev Up EVs report shows automakers and dealerships often aren’t doing their part to sell them,” said Gina Coplon-Newfield, the Sierra Club’s Electric Vehicles Initiative director and co-author of the report. “While some of our Rev Up EVs survey participants found dealerships are employing impressive best practices to sell a lot of EVs, many encountered roadblock after roadblock in their search for EV inventory, test drives, and knowledgeable salespeople.”

Besides volunteer testimonials, the report also includes a ranking of automakers for best-to-worst EV shopping experience at dealerships, best practices for EV sales and policy recommendations, and a list of dealerships visited that were exemplary at EV sales. The full report can be found here.