Russian motorists consider the main disadvantage of electric cars to be the lack of infrastructure for recharging them
The All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM) published the results of a survey on the attitude of Russians towards electric cars. As the center notes, despite the environmental friendliness of electric vehicles, Russians are not yet in a hurry to switch to them: motorists give priority to vehicles using traditional fuels.
During the June VTsIOM survey, Russians were asked to speculate on the topic of buying a car for family use and choose up to two of their most preferred vehicles based on fuel type. According to the results obtained, electric cars attract Russian motorists to a much lesser extent than cars with internal combustion engines.
The answers of Russians whose families have at least one car (group share — 60%) were distributed as follows: 49% would prefer a car with a gasoline engine, 17% — with hybrid, 12% each — with diesel and electric motor. The target group is much less likely to be attracted to gas vehicles (propane-butane mixture engine — 5%, methane — 3%). Another 6% responded that the type of engine does not matter to them.
In general, if we weed out those who found it difficult to answer (5%) and those who do not plan to buy a car (11%), the share of those who named only traditional fuel (gasoline, diesel and gas) in the group of Russian motorists is 59%, only alternative (hybrid, electric) — 20%, while both types of fuel were mentioned in the answers of every eighth person (12%). Among male motorists — 62%, 20% and 15% respectively.
When discussing the merits of electric cars, Russian car enthusiasts most often note their environmental friendliness (43% of those whose families have at least one car). Among other advantages — efficiency (19%), noiselessness (10%), ease of operation (8%); in isolated cases, the advantages included the absence of exhaust/gasoline smell (4%) and technological effectiveness (&new generation cars/modern technologies— 3%).
Russian motorists consider the main disadvantage of electric cars to be the lack of infrastructure for recharging them (43%). Some respondents note difficulties with maintenance, including its high cost (20%), complex repairs and lack of spare parts (6%), as well as operational features (small power reserve — 15%, quickly discharges — 7 %, problems with charging — 5%, takes a long time to charge — 3%, etc.). Another 7% are of the opinion that this type of transport is not at all suitable for the Russian climate, and the same number note that it is not environmentally friendly (7%).