Just one look at the fuel economy and environment labels would cause the poll numbers to change. Just one look!
That's a stiff headwind just as automakers are developing electrics to help meet tighter federal rules that could require their fleets to average as high as 62 miles per gallon in 2025. And President Obama has set a goal of a million electric vehicles in use in the U.S. by 2015.
The anti-electric sentiment unmasked by the poll shows that pure electrics — defined in the poll question as "an electric car that you could only drive for a limited number of miles at one time" — could have trouble getting a foothold in the U.S. ...
Researcher J.D. Power and Associates projects sales of pure electrics this year will be 10,727, rising to 95,939 in 2015.
via www.usatoday.com
Two comments:
- My guess is that the question made electric cars sound undesirable ... in an environmental economics survey we'd make sure to say exactly how many miles could be driven on a single charge and vary the number to develop a behavioral model.
- According to the JDPA estimate, we're only an order of magnitude away from the 1 million goal. Did I hear someone say we should raise the gas tax?
