Massive Demand For Green Vehicles Does Not Translate Into Sales; Price and Education Biggest Factors

CHICAGO -- Sept. 19, 2014: DMV.com has released the results of their study on what influences drivers' purchasing decisions for hybrid or electric vehicles. "It is clear that there is a large and growing demand for green technology vehicles, but overall sales of these types of vehicles still represented less than 4% of the market in the US last year." says Jordan Perch, automotive and technology analyst for DMV.com. "We conducted a study of over 1,100 US drivers to understand what factors were most influential in people's decisions to purchase these types of vehicles and what could be done in the future to increase the likelihood that someone would purchase a hybrid or electric vehicle."

The most important finding from the study showed that 38% of respondents plan to purchase either a hybrid or electric vehicle in the next 5 years, but the actual sales volume of green vehicles is only 3.8% of all vehicles sold. Survey results reinforced a singular issue of concern: demand for green technology vehicles is largely unrealized.

Perch found that, "the main take-away from the study was there needs to be a concerted effort among lawmakers and automakers to use a two-prong strategy in growing the green technology vehicle market: reducing costs through rebates and production efficiencies as well as educating consumers on the ease of use of home chargers".

Other key findings from the DMV.com Green Vehicle Study include:

72% of respondents believed that a green technology vehicle would save them money in the long run but 52% of those surveyed still indicated upfront cost as a major detractor when considering hybrid or electric cars.

Over 25% of all respondents admitted to never researching anything on green technology vehicles; 76% of those respondents plan to purchase a standard fuel vehicle as their next vehicle purchase