10:25 am, March 14, 2023
The proportion of EV buyers who’d be happy to own an electric vehicle if all they had was the public charging network to rely on has dropped.
That’s according to new research by What Car? after it polled 1,207 in-market buyers.
A total of 156 – 12.9 per cent – of people in the latest study were in the market for a fully electric vehicle (EV) and the study found that 93.6 per cent of EV buyers will be able to charge their car at home overnight.
Just 17.7 per cent of EV buyers said they’d be comfortable owning an electric car if they could only use public chargers.
That’s down on August 2022, when What Car? asked 265 EV buyers the same question – back then, 25.3 per cent said they’d be all right with owning an EV even if they could only use public chargers.
What Car? said the drop suggested declining confidence in the national public charging infrastructure – possibly because of the ongoing energy and cost-of-living crises that have increased tariffs.
In the latest study, the car-buying platform also asked the 1,051 in-market buyers who weren’t in the market for an electric car why they weren’t considering one.
Almost half (47.2 per cent) said EVs were too expensive for them, while 41.6 per cent said the public charging network wasn’t good enough.
A lack of home charging potential was cited by 23.5 per cent, and poor vehicle range was highlighted by 15.9 per cent.
As of January, there were 37,055 public electric vehicle charging stations in the UK, according to the Department for Transport, of which 6,887 are classed as ‘rapid’ with speeds in excess of 25kW.
In contrast, last October saw the one millionth EV registered on UK roads, with the latest SMMT figures showing electric vehicle registrations up by 19.1 per cent for the year to date in February.
What Car? editor Steve Huntingford said: ‘The lack of adequate charging infrastructure is still cited as one of the key reasons for buyers not making the switch.
‘Although the rate of chargers is growing, with further investment only recently announced, more needs to be done to support the buyers looking to make the switch, especially with the 2030 and 2035 targets looming.
‘This week’s Budget will likely cover a lot of ground, but support for electric vehicle buyers and manufacturers, as well as the UK’s charging infrastructure, shouldn’t be left out.’
