It appears that gasoline prices have finally risen high enough for long enough that a lot of Americans have decided to do something about it — namely, look into vehicles that don’t require gas to get around. The challenge will be finding enough inventory on dealer lots.

                By                    Vance Cariaga

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Consumer interest in electric vehicles (EVs) has picked up considerably this year in a market where already high gas prices have risen to record heights since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

New data from Cox Automotive — which monitored vehicle shopping traffic in early April on its own Autotrader site as well as the Kelley Blue Book sites — found that interest in EVs has increased by nearly two-thirds (66%) since January when gas prices started to spike higher.

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Among electric vehicles, non-luxury EV SUVs have the highest share of shopping activity on the sites, with a 96% increase since the beginning of the year. This suggests that non-luxury buyers are most impacted by higher gas prices and are potentially more motivated to switch to electric, Cox Automotive said.

Other highlights include the following:

  • Shopping traffic for hybrid new cars has risen 20% since January and returned to the same levels as in the fall of 2021.Fuel-efficient subcompact/compact car segments have seen a 15% increase in buyer interest since January.

But everyday consumers might have a harder time accessing EVs than Hertz. Ongoing supply chain issues — including global shortages of microchips, nickel and wires — continue to impact new vehicle inventory on dealer lots. In a recent study, Cox found that 45% of consumers are likely to postpone their auto purchases because of inventory shortages, with half of those surveyed saying they’ll postpone purchases by seven months or more.

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“Shopper interest for EVs, hybrids and more fuel-efficient gas vehicles remains high,” Cox Automotive Executive Analyst Michelle Krebs said in a press release. “The problem is that those are the very vehicles hardest hit by supply chain disruptions and are in the lowest supply.”