Interest in Alternative Fuel Vehicles Declines with Gas Prices - NACS Report

Co-Publishers Note: The recent drop in the cost of gasoline at the pump has empowered car buyers to show their true feelings in purchasing a new vehicle. Sales of Pick-ups and SUV's are exploding while sales and interest in high MPG small cars and more expensive, limiting and less flexible alt fuel vehicle is dropping even faster than the price of a barrel of oil.

With the past forty years of OPEC domination and the misguided reaction by politicians and the EPA with a rhetoric promoting nonsensical unrealistic MPG milestones, promoting smaller lighter unsafer cars, subsidizing alt fuel vehicle options that consumers just ignore, forcing the offering of vehicles that car companies don't want to build and consumers won't buy, alt fuel options that when closely scrutinized are ideas that we find to be just fairy dreams for America's transportation options.

But there is a bright side, today's drop in gasoline costs offers the USA a real opportunity to invigorate a permanent ubiquitous re-adoption of a tried and true 100 year old fuel, a fuel we believe is the real silver bullet to wean us from petroleum based mobility fuel.

It seems to us that the search for a revolutionary alternative for America's 90 year long historic dependence on petroleum should not be an alternative at all, but simply the phased in replacement of E-10 low test regular gasoline with new high-test regular (100+ octane) Flex-fuel E-85, which already offers American drivers a cheaper, more powerful and better for-their-car and better for our environment fuel.

Flex-fuel adoption eliminates the necessity to obsolete 250 million family vehicles already on America's roads...without expensive and welfare like alt fuel vehicle subsidies...without waiting for the implementation of any new fuel distribution infrastructure...or waiting for the rocket scientists to invent an actual flux-capacitor.

More to the point, just imagine what will happen to our economy when fuel costs drop even more to less than $1.25 per gallon and when American farmers can monetize land not suited for food crops...and garbage becomes fuel...and seaweed becomes fuel...and coal becomes clean liquid fuel.

Imagine what it will mean to American society when our rural population centers can once again become population magnets because of their booming local economies and all the benefits that that will bring, imagine families able to move back to their roots and small town life offering the next generations of young people the opportunities to enjoy the cultural benefits of vibrant non-urban communities.

Today's flex-fuel is the solution to many of America's problems fellow citizens its time to push your representatives to cut the crap and do the right thing and mandate the replacement of E-10 with E-85...it's good for all of us.

For more on our “flex-fuel is the answer” belief see also Yes Virginia There Is A Silver Bullet Solution For "No More Gasoline Now"

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NACS survey shows correlation between lower gas prices and lower-interest in alternative fuel cars.

​ALEXANDRIA, Va. December 9, 2014; Consumers are much less likely to consider a non-gasoline powered vehicle as gas prices continue to decline, according to a new consumer survey examining preferences related to alternative vehicles.

Four in five consumers (80%) considering an alternative fuel vehicle say that the primary reason is to save money on fuel. However, as gas prices decline, so does interest in these alternative vehicles. Each 10-cent drop in gas prices corresponds to a 1% decrease in the percentage of consumers considering alternative vehicles: 78% would consider a non-gas powered vehicle if gas were $5 a gallon, compared to 68% if gas were $4 and 56% if gas were $3, according to an alternative fuel vehicles tracking study commissioned by NACS.

Nearly three out of four consumers (72%) considering an alternative vehicle would consider a hybrid, followed by flex fuel vehicles (42%), all electric (34%), and hydrogen fuel cell and diesel fuel (22% each).

Consumer interest in alternative vehicles has fallen sharply since April 2014, when gas prices were 90 cents per gallon more than today. Consumer interest has particularly declined for all-electric vehicles, with only 34% indicating interest, compared to 55% in April. Women are far less likely to consider an all-electric vehicle than men (27% versus 40%), likely because of range-anxiety concerns.

Besides seeking out fuel savings, consumers identified a number of other factors that could incent them to purchase alternative-fuel vehicles: 51% of consumers would consider an alternative vehicle to protect the environment, 45% to reduce American dependence on foreign oil, 42% to reduce their carbon footprint and 41% to increase their driving range.

While the survey results are not encouraging to the alternative fueling industry, there may be some opportunities to expand sales. Older consumers, those over age 50, are most likely to consider an alternative fuel vehicle as a means of reducing American dependence on foreign oil: 59% cited this reason, compared to 35% of those ages 18-34. Meanwhile, younger consumers are more interested in how the vehicles fit their lifestyle: 22% cited that reason, compared to only 8% of those over age 50.

The NACS survey was conducted by Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates LLC; 1,110 gas consumers were surveyed Nov. 5-7, 2014. View summary results at www.nacsonline.com/gasprices.