Mobility Barometer 2025

Range anxiety is fading – but the price still scares buyers away

Worried your electric car’s battery will run out before you reach your destination? You’re not alone. Range anxiety is on the decline – at least as a reason for not buying an EV.

A few years ago, advice was everywhere on how to make your EV battery last as long as possible to avoid being stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Drive at a constant speed (regardless of the speed limit), skip the air conditioning even when you’re sweating, bundle up in winter clothes instead of turning on the heat – and so on.

Some of those tips were meant to be humorous, but there was a real concern behind them. In practice, range anxiety was as common a reason for not buying an EV as price. Nearly one in three people, or 31 percent, said no to electric cars due to range issues in 2022.

But stronger batteries and more charging stations seem to have calmed those worries. Today, just over one in four people, 26 percent, cite poor range as a reason not to buy, rent, or lease an EV.

Swedes are the most concerned

At the same time, range anxiety varies between countries. Swedes have consistently been the most worried – and still are. Thirty percent in Sweden cite poor range as a reason not to buy an EV, compared with only 22 percent in Denmark. (Then again, Sweden is also a much larger country geographically.)

However, the most common reason for avoiding EVs has nothing to do with range – it’s what could be called “wallet anxiety.” Nearly four in ten, 37 percent, say they can’t afford an electric car. That’s up four percentage points from four years ago.