Guest commentary: Automakers are missing an opportunity to sell more EVs to women

Electric vehicles offer significant savings in operating costs compared with traditional gasoline-powered cars. By making the switch, drivers can save up to $3,000 a year on fuel and reduced maintenance alone.

Most EVs also have a lower total cost of ownership over their lifetime, especially when factoring in the incentives under the federal Inflation Reduction Act, which offers up to $7,500 in tax credits.

Women, who still earn less than men on average, buy 62 percent of all new cars sold in the U.S. and influence more than 85 percent of all car purchases.

So why are they being left out of the new automotive revolution?

An August 2022 survey revealed a small gender gap in EV-buying interest: 53 percent of men compared with 47 percent of women. The gender gap is much larger in terms of actual EV purchasing. In California, the largest U.S. market for EVs, 76 percent of buyers are men. A few reasons help explain why women's interest does not translate to purchases.

Start with the average cost of an EV before tax incentives: around $60,000. That sticker shock makes it easy for consumers to lose sight of the lower cost of ownership over an EV's lifetime. At that price, EV automakers must address concerns that are more relevant to women's car-buying habits.

In China, automakers have marketed EVs to women with an approach almost unheard of in the United States. In May 2022, Great Wall Motors released the Ora EV. Shaped like a Volkswagen Beetle, it includes a "Lady Driving Mode" with voice-controlled parking and reversing, and an automatic cruise control that maintains extra distance between vehicles ahead of it. It also features "Warm Man Mode" — one click turns up the heat and adjusts air conditioning — to cater to women who are menstruating.

U.S. automakers are not averse to catering to women, though attempts to make female-first products have not fared well.

In 2003, Volvo debuted the YCC, a car designed by and for women. It never made it to production, but some of its features, such as purse storage and computer-assisted parking, did trickle into Volvo's U.S. offerings. Saturn launched a web series called "Novel Adventures" that featured four women in a book club interacting with a different Saturn in every episode. GM discontinued the Saturn brand two years later.

As for EVs, commercials for Ford, Audi and Cadillac have featured women prominently, but these are in the minority. One study sug-gested women prioritize environ-mental friendliness and safety more than men, but domestic marketing rarely em-phasizes these aspects of EVs — nor their relatively affordable cost of ownership over the vehicle's lifetime.

It's no wonder that 75 percent of women report feeling misunder- stood by car marketers.

What if the push to get women into EVs began not with marketers but with corporate employers?

Although men and women are both more likely to work from home since the COVID-19 pan- demic, the majority of employed women (58.5 percent) and men (64.7 percent) still work outside their homes, highlighting the importance of commuter vehicles to the U.S. work force.

Corporations have the resources and incentives to push for employees to drive EVs for work. Businesses can help meet their own emissions targets —and the government's — simply by reducing the amount of gasoline their employees consume to get to work. In addition to converting company-owned fleets to electric from gasoline, that might mean offering an EV benefit package that includes educating employees on the benefits of EVs, assisting employees in finding affordable EV models suitable for different life-styles, supporting employees with charging stations at work and at home, and guiding employees on how to file for tax incentives and credits.

The global transition to electric transportation is underway. Commuters and business fleet owners who make the switch now will reap the rewards of added savings and tax benefits.

By getting more women behind the wheel of EVs, corporate America can help close the gender pay gap, since EVs come with a lower total cost of ownership than gasoline-powered vehicles on average, and contribute to a more sustainable future.