Though companies worldwide have been making high profile pushes into the electric vehicle market, a report from the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) reveals that their use has been slow to gain market share in the United States.
Electric vehicles — which includes hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid electric and battery electric — still accounted for less than 5 percent of sales shares as of 2017. This is in spite of the fact that since 2012 the number of available models has lept from 58 to 95. Hybrid electric vehicles have fared the best of these vehicles, but their shares are falling as plug-in hybrid electric and battery electric vehicles catch up.
Even with growth, though, battery electric vehicles only accounted for 0.6 percent of 2017’s vehicle sales, plug-in reached 0.5 percent, and non-plug-in hybrid electrics have declined to 1.9 percent of total light-duty vehicle sales. The EIA based this assessment on Wards Automotive sales data.
The EIA has suggested several ideas as to why this is happening, such as relatively low gas prices in recent years, increased fuel economy among conventional vehicles, the high initial cost of electric vehicles and limited charging infrastructure beyond specific urban environments. As gas prices continue to rise in the months ahead, this could, therefore, see some change. For now, however, sales are low and largely restricted to the wealthier ends of U.S. households, according to the EIA.