Inexperience and Lack of Knowledge Remain Roadblocks for Acceptance

TROY, Mich.: 27 Oct. 2020 – Many vehicle owners in North America are driving fewer miles in the era of COVID-19, but their opinions of future mobility technology haven’t changed much since the first quarter of 2020. However, many automakers are investing heavily in electrification and self-driving technology despite an absence of substantive consumer interest in either, according to the J.D. Power 2020 Q3 Mobility Confidence Index Study fueled by SurveyMonkey released today.

The Mobility Confidence Index for battery-electric vehicles remains neutral, decreasing among American drivers to 54 from 55 (on a 100-point scale) while increasing among Canadian drivers to 58 from 57. For self-driving vehicles, the index is still low, slipping to 34 from 35 in the United States, while holding steady at 36 in Canada.

“Automakers took a step back once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, disrupting supply chains and slowing production,” said Kristin Kolodge, executive director of driver interaction & human machine interface research at J.D. Power. “With so many more people working from home or making shorter commutes, this is an opportunity to further tout the benefits of battery-electric vehicles and self-driving technologies. However, consumers remain skeptical because of their lack of first-hand experience with these technologies and lack of education about how and why these technologies work. Until auto manufacturers can rectify this, adoption will continue to be an uphill battle.” 

The study is the pulse of market readiness and acceptance for battery-electric and self-driving vehicles, as seen through the eyes of consumers and industry experts. The 2020 Q3 study includes insights from the United States and Canada. J.D. Power is joined by global survey software company SurveyMonkey to conduct the study in which more than 8,500 consumers and industry experts gave their opinions about battery-electric vehicles and nearly 9,000 answered about self-driving vehicles. The survey was fielded in September 2020. 

Following are key findings about battery-electric vehicles:

“Right now, there are about 50 battery-electric vehicle models scheduled for a U.S. debut by the end of 2022. In that same two-year period, only 13% of the consumers we polled expect to buy one while 30% stated they have no intention to ever consider buying one,” Kolodge said. “Automakers need to figure out a way to get people into these types of vehicles to increase consideration.” 

Following are key findings about self-driving vehicles:

“At the outset of the pandemic, there was uncertainty on the implications of consumer preferences, but the data tell us that attitudes on self-driving and electric vehicles have not changed,” said Jon Cohen, chief research officer at SurveyMonkey. “We continue to see that younger American have the most positive views of both self-driving and electric vehicles. Canadians also continue to have more positive views than Americans.”

See the online press release at http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2020139.

J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behavior, J.D. Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 50 years. The world's leading businesses across major industries rely on J.D. Power to guide their customer-facing strategies.

J.D. Power is headquartered in Troy, Mich., and has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the company’s business offerings, visit JDPower.com/business. The J.D. Power auto shopping tool can be found at JDPower.com.

SurveyMonkey (NASDAQ: SVMK) is a leader in agile software solutions for customer experience, market research, and survey feedback. The company’s platform empowers over 17 million active users to analyze and act on feedback from employees, customers, website and app users, and market research respondents. SurveyMonkey’s products, enterprise solutions, and integrations enable more than 335,000 organizations to deliver better customer experiences, increase employee retention​, and unlock growth and innovation. Ultimately, SurveyMonkey's vision is to raise the bar for human experiences by amplifying individual voices.

Media Relations Contacts
Geno Effler, J.D. Power; West Coast; 714-621-6224; media.relations@jdpa.com
Shane Smith; East Coast; 424-903-3665; ssmith@pacificcommunicationsgroup.com
Sandra Gharib, SurveyMonkey; pr@surveymonkey.com

About J.D. Power and Advertising/Promotional Rules
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