Chinese consumers are leading a transition toward electrified powertrains. Europeans are following. Americans are more resistant, though some of their frustrations with EVs have subsided.
Those are key conclusions drawn from a new McKinsey & Co. global consumer survey which gauged sentiments on electric vehicles and other new automotive technologies.
Among prime EV takeaways:
- In a market where electrified powertrains already account for half of all new cars sold, 45 percent of Chinese consumers said their next car will be a battery-electric vehicle while 37 percent intend to buy a plug-in hybrid, according to the survey results.
- Twenty-three percent of European respondents said they’ll purchase a battery electric next, while 27 percent told researchers they intend to buy a plug-in. Battery electrics account for 14 percent of current vehicle sales in Europe, McKinsey said.
- Only 12 percent of U.S. consumers said their next vehicle would be a battery electric — a number that inched up 1 percentage point year over year. Seventeen percent of Americans intend to buy a plug-in hybrid. Roughly 8 percent of the current new-car sales market is battery electric, the consulting firm said.
The numbers illustrate the harrowing task automakers face in aligning global ambitions with specific market forces — all while grappling with geopolitical tensions and tariff-related tumult.
As global automakers look to recoup costs from their EV investments, they will likely expand their use of range-extending electric vehicles, better known in industry shorthand as E-REVs, according to Patrick Hertzke, McKinsey’s global electric vehicle lead and automotive sector leader.
“They see some concerns of BEV demand slowing for the next several years, and now they face the challenge of amortizing that capital against a smaller volume,” he said. “One way to do that is add a range extender. Economically, there’s motivation there.”
E-REVs are similar to battery electrics and powered by an electric motor, but they also have small gasoline-powered generators on board that can add 250 to 300 miles of range beyond what’s available with the battery only.
Multiple Chinese automakers already offer E-REVs, and others will unveil forthcoming models by the end of this year, McKinsey said.
But overall, the EV transition remains fraught, according to Philipp Kampshoff, co-founder of McKinsey’s Center for Future Mobility.
“It’s still challenging,” he said. “We are not through the point where EVs are selling like crazy. For that to happen, we still need to see prices come down.”
Americans lead ‘never EV’ backlash
It is not only prices, but in some cases, hostilities.
Thirty-two percent of U.S. consumers said they would never switch to an electric vehicle. That’s down from 37 percent in 2024, but still far higher than global counterparts. Only 19 percent of Europeans and 3 percent of Chinese respondents swore off electric vehicles.
Still, some of Americans’ frustrations with electric vehicles have waned.
Last year, 46 percent of current EV owners told McKinsey they intended to switch back to an internal combustion-powered vehicle. Now 76 percent say they’ll stick with battery electrics, while 15 percent say they intend to buy a plug-in hybrid. Better charging experiences and improved total-cost-of-ownership figures explain the change in sentiments, Kampshoff said.
But insufficient public charging infrastructure, lack of available chargers and slow chargers nonetheless rank among Americans’ top pain points when it comes to EV ownership, according to the survey.
EV charging advances, but 30 minutes might be good enough
Chinese companies, on the other hand, have made substantial progress on the charging front. BYD unveiled a battery in March that can offer 250 miles of range in five minutes of charging. Battery manufacturer CATL said at this week’s Shanghai Auto Show that it devised a new battery that can offer 323 miles of range with a five-minute charge.
Consumers are willing to pay for faster charging experiences — but only to a point, the McKinsey survey found. Good enough may be satisfactory. Shortening charging times from an hour to 30 minutes is “a big difference, and people are willing to pay for that,” Kampshoff said.
But willingness to pay for times shorter than a half-hour “falls off a cliff,” he said.
In Germany, consumers placed greater value on increasing EV range. Respondents said they would pay €1,330 to increase range from 450 kilometers to 500 kilometers. They were willing to pay only €735 to boost charging times from 30 minutes to 20 minutes.
‘Rising openness’ to possibility of buying a Chinese EV
Brand loyalty becomes less relevant as consumers transition to electric vehicles, McKinsey said, and that leaves Western customers open to the possibility of buying a Chinese EV.
While there are no light-duty Chinese electric vehicles for sale in the U.S., a quarter of U.S. consumers said they would be open to the possibility of purchasing one.
Tariffs on Chinese imports have risen to 145 percent, making it unlikely that will change in the near term.
But “we are seeing a rising openness,” Hertzke said. “For Chinese companies eventually thinking about entering the U.S., they’re just waiting for maybe a different time, a different administration, a different economic environment.”
In Europe, where Chinese passenger cars are already for sale, 21 percent of consumers said they were interested in Chinese EV brands.
McKinsey surveyed approximately 26,000 car owners across the globe. It asked more than 150 questions regarding mobility trends, purchase decisions and potential disruptions.
