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Thinking of buying an electric car? You’re not alone.

With gas prices are painfully high and a series related to climate reports Underscoring the urgency of moving away from burning fossil fuels, more Americans are showing interest in electric vehicles.

Google searches for electric cars have skyrocketed, reached a record number last month. Searches for electric vehicles on the automotive classifieds website Cars.com increased by 43 percent from January to February and by 57 percent from February to March. And automakers are ready to encourage: Almost all cars Ads during the Super Bowl In February, electric vehicles came to the fore.

But the actual purchasing journey in the United States putting more electric vehicles and fewer gas-powered vehicles on the roads has two big roadblocks: the supply of cars and the infrastructure to charge them.

With the United States, like most countries, struggling to find political will There is no doubt that it will be a positive step for more people to switch to electric vehicles to make the fundamental changes needed to limit climate change.

Even before gasoline prices began to rise, the supply of electric vehicles was strained by a number of factors. This includes supply chain issues, especially scarcity of items such as semiconductors, this hampered the auto industry as a whole. war in ukraine further interrupted productionand long waiting lists for electric vehicles are common.

Famines aren’t universal, of course, but where demand increases, it’s not where supply keeps up. In states like Arizona and Georgia, demand is currently significantly higher than the supply on Cars.com, according to Jenni Newman, the website’s editor-in-chief. California has both the highest demand and the highest supply.

“While gas prices will further drive interest in electric cars, hybrids and overall fuel efficiency as the economy gets even better (which was already good), consumers may not get what they want and need”, David Friedman, vice president of advocacy at Consumer Reports. The former acting director of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in an email.

“It reinforces the need for strong standards because better options need to be available before prices rise, not in response to them,” Friedman said, referring to policies like Mr. Friedman. fuel emission standards encourages automakers to invest in electric vehicles.

As people start using electric vehicles, the second hurdle becomes clear: the limits of public charging infrastructure. More cars will need more places to charge, preferably close to EV owners.

Until now, most of the people who bought electric vehicles were those who had the capacity to charge them at home, such as homeowners with a garage. Experts say it’s a great option for many Americans, but it’s not for everyone. And even some people who can charge at home have expressed concern about what the relative scarcity of charging stations will mean for them to be able to travel long distances if they switch to an electric car.

“Right now, nearly all of the people who buy electric vehicles have their own home and a place to charge it,” said Daniel Sperling, professor and founding director of engineering and environmental policy at the University of California, Davis. from the University’s Institute of Transportation Studies, Dr. These buyers tend to be affluent and often own more than one car, meaning they can use an electric vehicle for their daily commute, but also a gas-powered vehicle for longer trips.

For people who don’t have more than one car and live in apartments in densely populated cities where even regular parking is difficult, charging an electric vehicle isn’t as easy as plugging it into a garage outlet, increasing the range between charges. a more pressing question.

This obstacle is not necessarily urgent. “In the short term, infrastructure can certainly meet the demand growth,” said Luke Tonachel, director of clean vehicles and fuels at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

But in the long run, the International Council for Clean Transport found last year that the United States “must increase the number of chargers by an average of 25 to 30 percent annually by 2030 to prevent charging infrastructure from becoming a barrier.” electric vehicle market,” says Dale Hall, senior researcher on the council.

Some of this is already happening, Mr. Tonachel said. He said utilities have invested more than $3 billion in charging infrastructure, adding billions more to pending applications if approved. The bipartisan infrastructure bill that Congress passed last year included another $7.5 billion for charging stations, and more broadly, the Biden administration is spending tens of billions on it. promoting electric vehicles.

However, geographic disparities persist where these chargers are installed. And there remains a fundamental problem: profit.

“It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to make a profit by selling electrons to vehicles,” Professor Sperling said, noting that at the moment most public chargers are either state-funded (federal, state or local) or subsidized by the state. Employers who see this as an advantage. However, Professor Sperling said, “We will probably need one charger for every 10 vehicles in the future.” “And how that will happen is very uncertain.”

Hiroko Tabuchi contributing reporting.