According to research, nine in ten drivers who switched to an electric car say that they wouldn’t buy a petrol or diesel car again.
Drivers of EVs say that they can travel longer distances with the newer models, and have improved charging infrastructure. A quarter claim to be able drive their car for more than 300 miles.
Zap-Map states that this study provides’strong evidence for a continued shift in consumer attitudes toward EVs’, and that ‘those people who choose to go electric in 2019 won’t regret their decision’.
Auto Trader’s separate report says that the UK could be’starved” of electric vehicles after last month’s Government decision to reduce grants. It was also the second time in twelve months it has reduced subsidies for new batteries.
Happy to keep charging: Nine out of ten owners of EVs said that they won’t ever go back to driving a diesel or petrol car. With improved ranges and a better charging infrastructure, this is incredibly encouraging.
3306 people owned electric cars were surveyed by the charging app before last year. This is one of the highest polls of early adopters.
A study revealed that 91% of drivers love their EVs and 89% would be willing to return to cars powered by conventional fuels.
Only 1% of respondents said they’d like to see a diesel or petrol engine again.
According to Zap-Map, the results of the survey are “remarkably similar” to last year. This suggests that the new wave of EV drivers is as happy with the decision to switch to electric this year as they were in 2020.
Many respondents were first-time EV owners. Over 48% said their vehicle is their first electric car, and 28% purchased it in the past 12 months.
A lot of the reinforcement came from low running costs, improving driving ranges and other positive factors.
In the survey, drivers were asked about how far they’ve traveled with an EV in a single trip.
53 percent of respondents said that they’ve driven over 200 miles in an EV within a single trip.
Only 1% said that they would go back to an electric car with a petrol engine or diesel engine if asked by ZapMap
This study provides’strong evidence that there has been a shift in consumers’ attitudes toward EVs and suggests that those who opt for electric will not regret it.
According to the Department for Transport, the figure shows that drivers tend to use their EVs for long trips. This should reduce concerns regarding the range of EVs.
Furthermore, almost a quarter of respondents said they have driven more than 300 miles in one trip – with over seven per cent doing the long haul and driving more than 500 miles in a single journey.
Around a third of the respondents traveled between 101-200 miles in an electric vehicle, while 15% did it less than 100.
A little over 7% of drivers polled claimed to have driven more than 500 miles in a single trip using an EV.
Zap-Map co-founder Melanie Shufflebotham said that the research supports electric cars more every year.
“For the second consecutive year, we have seen that people who switch from gasoline to electric don’t want to look back,” she said. It is also evident from the journeys that EV drivers have covered, that worries about range and the historical difficulties of running and owning an electric vehicle are becoming a distant memory.
This poll was conducted by Zap-Map at a moment when the EV sector is seeing record-breaking numbers.
According to the latest statistics, almost one fifth of new cars sold in November were battery-electric. This is an increase of 110 percent compared to November 2020.
Trudy Harrison (Transport Minister) said that the survey results showed drivers becoming more confident about switching to electric cars. I hope these data will encourage others to make the same switch as we strive towards our ambitious net zero targets for the UK.
‘We’ve committed £2.5billion to accelerate the rollout of zero emission vehicles and charging infrastructure across the country, ensuring the transition is as simple as possible for motorists, as we take steps towards a greener transport future.’
Experts warn that government grant reductions could reduce demand for EVs by 2022
Auto Trader is an online marketplace for selling used cars. It claims Britons are being deprived of electric cars because minsters have cut the grant to plug-in cars in December. This will happen again in 2021.
Last month, the Government reduced the scheme to just £1,500 and cut eligibility to only models costing less than £32,000.
It had previously offered buyers of new EVs up to £2,500 off the price of a battery vehicle up to the value of £35,000 as of March 2021.
These latest cuts make EV grants available to UK motorists far less attractive and valuable than those offered in Europe. This could impact the current boom in battery motor demand.
Grants for new electric cars were in December slashed by 40% to ‘enable taxpayers’ money to go further´, according to the Department for Transport said
Schemes in other countries are three times greater than those available to Britons, with Germans being offered £5,000 more on average than motorists in the UK.
What electric cars are eligible for the current reduced plug-in vehicle grant?
Only 18 EVs currently qualify for the newly-slashed grant. Read our complete guide to find out which ones.
Originally launched in 2011, the Plug-in Car Grant offered up to £5,000 off the price of any new EV.
But a decade later, transport ministers have bludgeoned the value of the subsidy to just £1,500 and capped its availability to models priced up to a maximum of £32,000.
It means that all models with high prices such as Jaguar, Mercedes, BMW and BMW are excluded from the pricing.
Just 27 models had been eligible before the grant was cut. Since it was scaled back at the end of December, only 18 models on sale qualify for the £1,500 subsidy.
> Read our dedicated guide to which cars are currently eligible for the scheme, from the cheapest to the most expensive
If lower grants does curb appetite for affordable electric cars, manufacturers may choose to focus on markets such as France and Germany where the incentives on offer both to consumers and the automotive industry are far more generous.
Auto Trader reports that while most European countries are less aggressive than the UK in their goal to end petrol and diesel, they have implemented more robust measures to increase EV adoption, which will make EVs cheaper.
“While electric cars are becoming more popular in the UK, not all of them are affordable for most households.
‘There are just four EVs priced below £20,000 at present, all of which are either superminis or city cars, which doesn’t give consumers enough choice to encourage widespread adoption.’
Many EV’s are currently around £10,000 more expensive than a petrol or diesel equivalent.
Auto Trader polled over a third (33%) of respondents last year, who said that upfront costs for EVs were a barrier. That explains why most of last year’s purchases came almost exclusively from Britain’s wealthiest areas.
Six out of the 10 most popular EV hotspots can be found in affluent London areas, such as Putney or Kensington.
Compared with the car buying average, those with the highest interest in making the switch to electric are twice as likely to have a household income of £75,000 or more.
Electric car grant has been slashed to just £1,500 as of 15 December 2021, down from the £2,500 amount when it was last cut in March last year
Ian Plummer is the Auto Trader commercial director. He stated: ‘The current Government approach to reaching for sticks rather than carrots could have grave consequences for mass EV adopters.
“The UK has set a high goal for widespread electric vehicle use, but there are no incentives to encourage this shift.
The subsidies offered do not reduce the cost barrier which prevents many drivers from switching. This, combined with the preference for regulation over incentives, could make the situation worse by encouraging European manufacturer investment.
Plummer stated that a rise in UK subsidy will reduce the barriers to entry for hardworking families. It will also stimulate demand to ensure the automotive industry is competitive for foreign carmakers.
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