IEVS: Is Percentage Of UK Motorists Considering Switch To EVs Decreasing?

[GRA]

https://insideevs.com/percent-motorists-uk-switch-evs-decreasing/

. . .

“The findings are a blow to the zero emissions vehicle plan. Just a year ago, 85% of motorists surveyed by Venson said they would seriously consider buying an EV, following news from Total and Shell that they would be installing more charging points. Yet in Venson’s ‘2018 EV Attitudes’ survey only 15% confirmed they actually intend to buy one in the very near future.”

A bigger group (19%) said they refuse to switch until there is no other option available to them. The other 66% – that are between yes or no today – probably will be step by step switching to the EV side when the value proposition improves.

Top deterrents to buy or choose a company electric vehicle
2017 % 2018 %
Lack of charging points across the UK 69 61
Limited mileage range of EVs 61 45
Cost of charging an EV 42 39
Lack of understanding of the costs and convenience of owning EV 41 36
Servicing and repair costs 31 31
Lack of try before you buy opportunities 24 17
Cost of insurance 19 19
Safety concerns regarding batteries 18 21
Practicalities of being able to charge a car at home – 38
Lack of clarity in terms of ownership implications as a company car driver – 12

[WetEV]

only 15% confirmed they actually intend to buy one in the very near future.”

Currently about 3% of the UK market is plug in vehicles, about about 1% BEV.

15% BEVs would be fantastic progress. 15% plug in vehicles would be great progress. And once people get used to the fellow across the street having a BEV, they are more likely to consider one.

Every journey happens a step at a time.

[GRA]

only 15% confirmed they actually intend to buy one in the very near future.”

Currently about 3% of the UK market is plug in vehicles, about about 1% BEV.

15% BEVs would be fantastic progress. 15% plug in vehicles would be great progress. And once people get used to the fellow across the street having a BEV, they are more likely to consider one.

Every journey happens a step at a time.

The question, as always, is what % of that 15% will actually buy a vehicle when push comes to shove, especially when lack of charging facilities is cited as the single most important factor in that decision in the UK, and the rate at which they will be installed is inevitably limited?

[WetEV]

Every journey happens a step at a time.

The question, as always, is what % of that 15% will actually buy a vehicle when push comes to shove, especially when lack of charging facilities is cited as the single most important factor in that decision in the UK, and the rate at which they will be installed is inevitably limited?

Oh, I'd expect about 20% or 30% more than did last year. It's been fairly constant, you should know.

Even if 15% actually wanted to buy a plug in vehicle, the manufacturers couldn't hope to deliver much more than a quarter of that. Supply chains don't grow overnight. 30% growth is pretty explosive.

Change is a step at a time.

Sure, some people that don't yet drive an electric car think that lack of charging faculties is a major problem. Like you, for example. If they had an actual need for a car, unlike you of course, and they actually tried driving an electric, they might just find that charging wasn't a real problem. And if their neighbor isn't having a problem charging, they might catch on.

[LeftieBiker]

This is silly. They could have had the exact same numbers, together, in the first survey. Changing the wording (and thus the nature of the question) changed the percentages by changing from "soft" to "hard" intentions.

[GRA]

Every journey happens a step at a time.

The question, as always, is what % of that 15% will actually buy a vehicle when push comes to shove, especially when lack of charging facilities is cited as the single most important factor in that decision in the UK, and the rate at which they will be installed is inevitably limited?

Oh, I'd expect about 20% or 30% more than did last year. It's been fairly constant, you should know.

Even if 15% actually wanted to buy a plug in vehicle, the manufacturers couldn't hope to deliver much more than a quarter of that. Supply chains don't grow overnight. 30% growth is pretty explosive.

Change is a step at a time.

Sure, some people that don't yet drive an electric car think that lack of charging faculties is a major problem. Like you, for example. If they had an actual need for a car, unlike you of course, and they actually tried driving an electric, they might just find that charging wasn't a real problem. And if their neighbor isn't having a problem charging, they might catch on.

As I've noted, most of my neighbors who own PEVs and live in detached, single family homes do have a problem with charging, judging by the L1 extension cords I see them running out of windows and doors to supply their portable EVSEs. Either they rent, or they don't wish/aren't able to pay to buy an L2 EVSE and install the necessary circuit for L2.

Then there's all my neighbors who don't have PEVs and park on the street; both sides of the block are completely lined with cars at night, as is the case in most cities around the world. And as noted in another topic, in the UK the % of households who can charge at home is 20%, not the 56% in the U.S. (a few years back), so public charging is far more important there, and far more people who think lack of charging is a major problem for them are correct.

[WetEV]

As I've noted,

As you ignored, BEV and PHEVs are growing at a fairly steady rate. Problems with charging are solvable. The future doesn't need to be New Urbanism and bicycles.

[downeykp]

As I've noted,

As you ignored, BEV and PHEVs are growing at a fairly steady rate. Problems with charging are solvable. The future doesn't need to be New Urbanism and bicycles.

Everyone I know who has an ev charges at home. GRA just figures everyone lives in an apartment and does not have access to a plug. Most people I know have garages. Charging for them is not a problem. At least the ev owner has options when charging. If they cant do it at home they can charge at the tens of thousands charging stations all over the country.

Hydrogen will NEVER have the saturation for charging that the ev owner has.

GRA does not have a dime in the game so every article that is anti-ev he posts. Every pro-hydro article he finds he posts, (even though there aren't many). I am beginning to see a pattern.

[RonDawg]

Everyone I know who has an ev charges at home. GRA just figures everyone lives in an apartment and does not have access to a plug. Most people I know have garages. Charging for them is not a problem. At least the ev owner has options when charging. If they cant do it at home they can charge at the tens of thousands charging stations all over the country.

To be fair, if my living situation meant I had to find a charging station and sit there for 30+ minutes everyday, I probably would not be a future EV owner. That's way too much an inconvenience IMHO. There would have to be other factors, like super-high petroleum prices, or Norway's new car taxing scheme that makes Honda Accords as expensive as Teslas, before I would put up with that. And that's without factoring in a problem with any public EVSE, and that is unavailability due to breakdown, or being hogged by a car that is done charging, or being ICEd, or simply too many people wanting to charge at the same time (which has even affected some Tesla Supercharger stations).

Charging stations are multiplying, but they tend to be clustered in shopping centers, and not necessarily near to where people live. At least in my area, curbside public EVSE's have been slow to catch on. I can count on one hand how many there are in a 10 mile radius of my home. Maybe a 20 mile radius.

GRA does not have a dime in the game so every article that is anti-ev he posts. Every pro-hydro article he finds he posts, (even though there aren't many). I am beginning to see a pattern.

I don't agree with him sometimes, but I don't think he's "anti-EV."

[GRA]

As I've noted,

As you ignored, BEV and PHEVs are growing at a fairly steady rate. Problems with charging are solvable. The future doesn't need to be New Urbanism and bicycles.

Sure, they're growing at a fairly steady rate. The question is whether that rate is fast enough, and/or whether there is a maximum cap owing to limitations. I believe that the answer to the first question is no, and the answer to the second one depends on whether or not technical improvement continues to the point we all hope it does . , I believe the main impediment to their being able to fully replace ICEs anytime soon (assuming their technical capabilities continue to improve), is lack of charging, barring wide-scale adoption of car-sharing using AV BEVs. Otherwise, it will take a half century or longer to provide charging for everyone where it's needed, and I believe that is too long.

No one has ever said that the sole answer to the future is restricted to New Urbanism and/or bicycles; those are just two of the tools that can be used in singly or in combination with many others to get us where we need to go. That being said, as New Urbanism is the most energy-efficient and least resource-intensive type of living for a society, and also has public health benefits owing to increased use of human-powered mobility (walking/biking), do you have something against it for those who choose to live that way?