CLEVELAND — Cleveland Auto Show President Lou Vitantonio said the number of electric cars on display has increased over the last few years. 

“A good percentage will be, 15 to 20% of the cars on the floor will be purely EV,” Vitantonio said. 

According too Kelly Blue Book, Americans bought a record 1.2 million electric vehicles in 2023. Vitantonio said consumers are getting more comfortable with the idea. 

“It’s been four, five years now,” Vitantonio said. “And so there’s comfort level with the technology. The prices are starting to come down a little bit. There’s more availability of chargers.”

But Vitantonio said what sometimes deters people from buying an electric car is range anxiety, where a driver is worried their battery won’t have enough juice to complete a trip. Vitantonio said more charging stations can quell those concerns since there’s $700 million in federal grant money being shelled out to build them.

But it ultimately comes down to use. 

“First thing is, are we running to the grocery store and back home? We can plug it in overnight at our house,” Vitantonio said. “Obviously a simple answer, or back and forth to work locally. If you’re going on a long trips, those have to be planned.” 

If you’re up in the air about electric or an internal combustion engine, then Vitantonio said a hybrid is the best of both worlds. He said more car companies are making hybrid models. 

“You’re not gonna be locked into having to charge once the battery is down,” Vitantonio said. “It will switch over to internal combustion and then you can power back up your batteries while you’re driving over gas.”