As Nio's William Li puts it, once users embrace electric vehicles, they will become widespread very quickly.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Fifty percent of respondents said they have a "strong intention" to buy a pure-play EV, up from 34 percent in 2019, according to a survey by consulting firm AlixPartners on November 4.

Local media outlet 21jingji.com today shared the 2021 Global Electric Vehicle Consumer Survey by the consultancy, which defines consumers who have a "strong intention" to buy or lease an all-EV as pure-play EV supporters.

The survey covered consumers in China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and California, with China leading the way in terms of the percentage of pure EV supporters, according to the report.

The main reasons cited by consumers who have no desire to purchase an all-electric vehicle, both in China and globally, continue to be range and charging convenience.

Sixty-two percent of Chinese consumers want to charge at a public facility, and 90 percent of Chinese respondents consider the convenience of public charging to be very important to their decision to purchase an all-electric vehicle.

Fifty-six percent of Chinese pure EV consumers want automakers to provide a network of convenient charging infrastructure.

It is worth noting that the direct sales model pioneered by Tesla and Nio is reshaping the buying habits of EV consumers, the 21jingji report said.

EV consumers are very focused on online purchase experience, which may pose a threat to the survival of offline dealers and will be a new serious challenge for automakers, according to the report.

The results of the survey come as no surprise, as the NEV market in China has been growing faster than anyone expected so far this year.

The penetration of NEVs in China, or their share of all new vehicle sales, is expected to exceed 15 percent for the full year this year, and that share is expected to exceed 20 percent next year, Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), said in an article published Tuesday.

That's an upward revision from his previous forecast, in which Cui predicted in early August that NEV penetration in China was expected to reach 13 percent this year.

At the 2021 World New Energy Vehicle Congress in southern China's Hainan Province on September 16, William Li, founder, chairman and CEO of Nio, said China's NEV penetration could reach 20 percent by next year.

Li believes that from the perspective of NEV promotion, once users accept it, it will become popular very quickly.

Expert expects China's NEV penetration to exceed 20% by 2022