Design is key for EV buyers, study finds

It was not so long ago that those in the market for an electric vehicle would go with whatever could travel the furthest on a single charge.

The next stage from that was charging speed, and arguably still is from our own experience. But a new study has found that buyers are no longer filtering by “maximum range” and instead prioritise interior and exterior design when it comes to choosing (or at least considering) an EV.

EVForward was carried out by Michigan-headquartered advisory firm Escalent, which surveyed 1,515 new car buyers just in the US, grouped into the following categories: EV Owner (148), EV Intender (471) and EV Resistant (516). In effect, sentiments ranging from pro, neutral and against.

The key findings were that interior (49%) and exterior design (45%) were the primary motivators for an EV purchase. Both of those can also be a key ‘rejection driver’ if the design is not on the money. Thus, brands that are able to deliver a visually compelling and intuitive product with performance to match are in a good spot.

An auxiliary takeaway might be that brands can “get away” with slightly compromised EV performance (range, charging) if it enables a more unique design. Perhaps the ‘polished pebble’ trend will soon be on its way out, if so.

The survey also found that half of prospective buyers wanted a “stylish” exterior design, followed by “functional”, “practical” and “distinctive”. Look closer at the numbers, and it becomes clear that although “style” ranked highly, it was only three percentage points higher than “functional” as a response.

Ben Lundin, insights director in Escalent’s Automotive & Mobility practice, notes that there appears to be a shift in priority towards the design of the cabin. “The biggest surprise was the extent to which people evaluate vehicle exterior and interior design as a ‘package’ – there were very few examples of vehicles that had an appealing exterior and unappealing interior or vice versa,” he told Car Design News. “Related to this, we found that interior design in fact had a slightly larger impact on consumer consideration of vehicles than exterior design – we would’ve thought the inverse to be true.”

The growing importance of design does track with previous reports – Escalent’s 2022 survey found a similar takeaway in that design, style, and emotion play a growing role in choosing an EV. Terms like “exciting”, “luxurious” and “strong” were used to describe buyers’ ideal exterior designs during that earlier report. All of this feeds into the broader study of perceived quality, which Car Design News has investigated in-depth.

It is interesting also to see that brand (39%) still plays a central role in the purchasing decision. This could be interpreted in a few ways, but it is feasible to deduct that those with a track record, favourable heritage or perceived competitive edge have a leg up on new brands starting from scratch. Brand power still matters. For the record, range is still one of the key factors (39%) followed by battery warranty (32%) and charging performance (30%).

There are also some takeaways relevant to UX design as part of this study, and few will be shocked to learn that there is a split between those in favour of and against EVs. “We found that EV Resistant folks want physical buttons as opposed to touch screens for far more features than EV Owners or EV Intenders,” notes Lundin. This came as part of broader feedback around preference for ‘traditional’ design among EV Resistant respondents.

With that said, what should designers and decision-makers do with this information? “Too often, discussions at automakers about EVs are about their specs: range, price, charging,” says Lundin. “We hope these findings will reinforce that EVs aren’t necessarily different from internal combustion or hybrid cars – that is: specs matter, but design is crucial.”