Electric cars, the diffusion is slowed down by high prices and the geopolitical scenario

In Italy, 78 percent of consumers want to switch to electric cars, also due to the growth in petrol and diesel refueling costs.

The race for electric cars has slowed since expensive prices and by one geopolitical scenario unstable.Yet in Italy, also thanks to the dizzying rise in refueling costs, as many as 78 percent of consumers would like to abandon petrol and diesel engines.The picture is drawn by Global automotive consumer study 2023, the research that Deloitte conducts over 26,000 consumers in 24 countries every year to shed light on the most relevant trends and variables in the transformation of the automotive sector.

How the propensity to purchase an electric car is changing

The new technologies, combined with increasingly regulations binding on the environmental front, they are encouraging the transition towards electric mobility at a global level.There propensity of Italians compared to the purchase of a hybrid or full-electric vehicle rose from 69 to 78 percent in one year, a figure decidedly higher than that of Germany (49 percent) and also of countries such as China and Korea South, which stand at 55 and 62 percent respectively.

For Franco Orsogna, automotive leader of Deloitte central Mediterranean, “the automotive industry is facing one of the most complex phases in its history, but at the same time it continues to evolve and advance, trying to transform the numerous challenges into new opportunities.This edition of the study also confirms that the path towards the new paradigm of electric mobility is now clear, although the still high list prices represent one of the most important brakes on the spread of electric vehicles on the market".

The variables of price, autonomy and charging times

The spread of vehicles with reduced environmental impact could be significantly slowed down by the renewals worries of consumers on multiple aspects:first of all economic accessibility, battery autonomy and vehicle charging times.Net of the different government incentives when purchasing, Orsogna further explains, "the price factor can also be counterbalanced by the strong desire of consumers to systematically reduce the costs of refueling and using the vehicle, an aspect amplified by the energy increases that have characterized 2022".

We like increasingly connected and digitalized vehicles

Another chapter of the study focuses on technological equipment of cars:Consumer interest in advanced features on board vehicles remains decidedly high connected and digitized.In Italy the most popular services are those that provide updates relating to maintenance or state of health of the vehicle and the improvement of safety, followed by predictive maintenance and updates on traffic and road congestion.

What changes, however, are the preferences on the specifications payment methods to take advantage of these services:most respondents prefer cost based on actual use (61 percent), followed by a cost premium included in the initial purchase investment (32 percent).The same order of preference is recorded in Germany and South Korea, while in China, India and the United States the situation is reversed.