Word of mouth for Stromer fails

E-cars are hard to imagine on German roads. The combustion engines are still far in the majority. But the proportion of Stromer is increasing. Curious, because many consumers who have experience with e-cars are not in favor of them.

Bitter balance sheet for e-cars: Many drivers would not recommend them

Not even half of all e-car drivers would their current model friends, family or co-workers recommend. This is one of the results of a survey by the opinion research company Uscale among around 3,000 EV drivers.

So would only 46 percent of the e-car drivers surveyed others advise on their respective electric vehicle. A year earlier, the proportion of recommendations was significantly higher at 59 percent. On the other hand, things don’t look any better: In 2022, 13 percent of those surveyed still wanted their e-car more discourage, increases this value now to 18 percent. The other participants could not decide for one of the sides.

What is striking about the values, which tend to go against the trend towards more e-cars, is that the Stromer get better at the same time: The survey was conducted for the first time in 2021 by the e-car rental company nextmove commissioned. In that year, the average range of the Stromer in summer was around 350 km. Meanwhile, the value climbed to 370 km.

But perceptions seem to differ: two years ago, 35 percent would have been satisfied with a range of 400 km. Now it’s 31 percent. The comparison shows: Consumers today expect more from electric cars than a few years ago. If the requirements increase faster than the manufacturers upgrade technically, this can lead to apparent dissatisfaction.

After switching to the electric car: is there a way back?

In addition, due to the lower quantities, Uscale often does not evaluate newer electric cars. Problems such as insufficient range may therefore have improved in more recent models. Uscale’s survey is still open. Theoretically, there could still be a change in the majority situation, even if no major trend reversal is to be expected.

In previous surveys, many e-car drivers stated that they could no longer imagine switching back to a combustion engine. The Uscale survey is also about driver satisfaction with the respective model, not about the electric drive as a whole.

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