Charged with Deceit: Defining the “Electric” in Electric Vehicles
By Grace Adcox
As companies tout their efforts to fuel an electric vehicle transition in the U.S., not all manufacturers are on the same page about what vehicle models count as electric vehicles under current climate goals. Earlier this fall, Toyota launched its “Electrified Diversified” marketing campaign, which collectively groups battery-electric, hydrogen fuel-cell, plug-in hybrid, and hybrid powertrain models as “EVs.” However, despite the EV moniker, many of the vehicle types listed above — like the Toyota Tundra hybrid powertrain — have internal combustion engines which utilize electricity to enhance efficiency, but still require gasoline for power.
In light of these automotive marketing strategies to broaden the definition of EVs, Data for Progress recently surveyed likely voters to understand how the national electorate understands the term. We find that a majority of likely voters (62%) view vehicles without an internal combustion engine that operate entirely on electricity as EVs, compared with only 8% who view vehicles that are powered by gasoline but use electricity to enhance efficiency as EVs, and 23% who consider both types of vehicles to be EVs.
Within demographic groups, voters across partisanship and education generally hold similar views about which vehicles align with their understanding of EVs. However, men report higher agreement that only vehicles that operate entirely on electricity are EVs (72%) compared with women, of whom only 53% agree that these fully electrified vehicles alone count as EVs. Voters under 45 hold somewhat different views than voters over 45, with 57% of younger voters agreeing that vehicles operating entirely on electricity are EVs, compared with 64% of older voters.
As companies roll out new electric and hybrid vehicle models, it is clear that the national electorate sees a sharp distinction between internal combustion engines and fully electrified vehicles, despite how automakers may advertise their products.
Grace Adcox (@GraceAdcox) is a polling analyst at Data for Progress.
Survey Methodology
From November 22 to 25, 2023, Data for Progress conducted a survey of 1,201 U.S. likely voters nationally using web panel respondents. The sample was weighted to be representative of likely voters by age, gender, education, race, geography, and voting history. The survey was conducted in English. The margin of error is ±3 percentage points.