Electric-Car Buyers Vs Hybrid Buyers: Younger, Wealthier, And More Options

If you were to make assumptions about hybrid and electric vehicle owners--and we're sure many do, for good or bad--how do you see them?

Perhaps technology-savvy, of reasonable income and a little older and wiser. Generally though, you'd expect electric and hybrid vehicle buyers to be fairly similar.

Well, that's more or less what Experian's latest electric and hybrid vehicle analysis has revealed--though there are some notable differences between the buyers of each sort of vehicle.

In simplified terms, electric car buyers are a little younger and a little wealthier than their hybrid-buying counterparts.

"Youth" and "wealth" don't always go hand-in-hand these days, but Experian's survey shows that more than 45 percent of hybrid buyers are 56 years old or older, but only 26 percent of electric car buyers fit in the same group.

The largest percentage of electric car buyers, 55 percent, are between 36 and 55 years old.

At the same time, their average household income is greater--over a fifth of electric vehicle buyers make $175,000 or more per annum, per household, while only 12 percent of hybrid car buyers are in the same bracket.

EV buyers also have a slightly better credit score, finance slightly more per vehicle (at a lower interest rate), but still pay off their vehicle loan in a shorter period--58 months on average, compared to 62 months for hybrid buyers.

When considered, some of these statistics aren't that surprising.

Electric cars are generally more expensive than their hybrid counterparts--so owners are naturally more likely to have a higher income, a better credit rating and be able to afford the average $549 monthly payment, to a hybrid's $467.