EV buyers still need ‘hand holding’ as Electrifying survey reveals continued challenges

EV buyers still need an element of ‘hand holding’ and the government needs to do more to level up the playing field across the country.

That is the verdict of leading automotive journalist Ginny Buckley, who has been appearing as a guest on the latest episode of the Car Dealer Podcast.

Buckley, co-founder of Electrifying.com, says that the publication’s recent consumer survey found that fears around charging remain a major hurdle to buyers getting into an EV.

While Westminster alone currently has close to 3,000 EV chargers, many cities in the north of England continue to lag behind and Buckley says that the government needs to take ‘more of a lead’ when it comes to making electric cars more accessible.

Speaking to hosts James Baggott and Jon Reay, she said: ‘We do a big survey every year with the AA and we did the last one just at the end of 2025.

‘We surveyed over 13,000 UK drivers… just under 50% will tell us that they don’t have confidence in driving an EV and the prospect of making that switch and around two thirds don’t have confidence in how you charge one.

‘So for new EV drivers – people new to it – definitely that hand holding is still really important. Those basics of how much range do you really need? How do you charge? Charging explained. Why does your range drop in winter?’

She added: ‘There are definitely concerns. There are concerns about charging. We need to do much more nationally about visibility of charging.

‘The fact that we have more chargers in Westminster than we have in the big northern cities of Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield combined is shocking and there are no surprises that that’s where you see the proliferation of EVs going.

‘I think we need to do much more work. The government needs to take much more of a lead around used EVs because that’s where the real difference is.’

Electrifying.com’s survey found that only 14% of non-EV motorists think that electric cars are cheaper to run overall than petrol or diesel vehicles.

Elsewhere, 55% of respondents said the government’s proposed pay-per-mile tax on EVs would discourage them from going electric.

The policy has drawn criticism from industry figures who argue it undermines efforts to promote EV adoption, with Buckley describing the proposals as ‘poorly thought through’.

The Treasury argues the charge is needed to offset declining fuel duty revenues and says that EV drivers would still pay roughly half the duty of petrol drivers.

The survey was carried out alongside the AA, whose president Edmund King said: ‘This survey shows that there is still some way to go to convince most drivers to go electric. Conditions which would help most drivers go electric have not yet been met.

‘The early adopters have already made the switch but mainstream motorists need more accurate information to convince them. Drivers still need the right incentives and information to make that leap of faith.’

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