Every driver knows the feeling: you pull up to the pump, watch the numbers climb, and think — seriously this time — maybe it’s time to go electric. According to the HERE-SBD EV Index 2026, that moment of pump-side reckoning is happening across the country. Roughly 56% of U.S. drivers surveyed say high gas prices have increased their interest in EVs; HERE’s own press materials cite 57%, likely a rounding difference in how the dataset was presented. Volatile fuel costs are moving the needle on something automakers and policy advocates have spent years trying to budge. The catch: interest isn’t a sales contract.
Charging Anxiety Is Easing — But the Sticker Price Isn’t
Confidence in public charging nearly doubled year-over-year, yet affordability remains the wall nobody has knocked down.
Public charging confidence jumped dramatically — 47% of drivers now believe a reasonable number of chargers exist, up from just 28% in 2025, according to the HERE-SBD study. Among actual EV owners, 85% consider the infrastructure adequate, which makes sense: most charge at home, making public networks a backup rather than a lifeline.
That said, the charger buildout is contested terrain. In January 2026, Reuters reported that a federal judge ruled the Trump administration had unlawfully suspended EV charger infrastructure funding — meaning today’s confidence numbers exist despite ongoing policy turbulence, not because of a smooth rollout.
Key findings from the HERE-SBD EV Index 2026:
- 56–57% of U.S. drivers say high gas prices raised their EV interest
- Public charging confidence rose from 28% (2025) to 47% (2026)
- 85% of current EV owners find charging infrastructure adequate
- Roughly 2 in 5 drivers say EVs are simply too expensive
- 77% of EV owners say their next vehicle will also be an EV
Price is where the story gets brutally honest. Two in five surveyed drivers said EVs cost too expensive — full stop. The pump pushes people toward EVs; the showroom floor pushes them back. For the roughly 40% who cite price as a dealbreaker, volatile gas costs alone are unlikely to close that gap.
“About two in five U.S. drivers say EVs are still too expensive — regardless of what gas costs.”
Interest Is Real. Conversion Is the Hard Part.
Seventy-seven percent of EV owners say they’d buy another — and that’s the number automakers should actually care about.
The most genuinely encouraging data point from the HERE-SBD study: 77% of current EV owners say their next vehicle will also be an EV. That’s not a curiosity statistic — it’s evidence that the ownership experience sells itself, provided buyers can survive the upfront cost.
Interest surveys are weather vanes, not sales forecasts. The HERE-SBD findings signal a real sentiment shift worth tracking, especially as fuel prices stay volatile. Still, nobody should mistake a survey response for a signed contract.
Gas prices have finally moved the needle on EV consideration. But until purchase prices drop or incentives stabilize, a lot of those newly interested drivers will keep grimacing at the pump — and driving away in the same car they showed up in.
