Over half of UK adults would choose to buy an electric car over diesel or petrol – but only if they can save money, new figures show.
The research, conducted by OVO Energy, found that concerns about cost, limited battery range and a lack of roadside charging points seem to be putting motorists off electric vehicles. The UK Government’s Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill could help tackle this; if passed, electric charge points will be installed at all UK motorway services and large petrol retailers.
Cost still acts as a deterrent for the public; industry figures show that the number of electric cars sold in Britain has fallen by a third since the start of the year. OVO’s research also found that Brits tend to prioritise cost (42%) and energy consumption (49%) over reducing environmental footprint (39%) when considering to purchase electric cars. Furthermore, more than half of Brits (51%) would choose an electric car over petrol or diesel if they could save money or make money in the long-term.
This research suggests that a lack of public knowledge of sustainable products could be dampening the adoption of electric cars, despite company and government investment.
Dyson is spending £2bn to develop its own electric car, and creating 300 UK tech jobs to help make it a reality. In 2016, a UK government fund poured £40m into London, Bristol, Nottingham and Milton Keynes to help the cities adapt to an electric car future and reach the government’s goal of phasing out diesel/petrol cars by 2040 to tackle air pollution.
However, OVO’s research showed that less than a fifth of British adults are aware of vehicle-to-grid chargers (13%) and home batteries (19%); technology that could enable stored renewable energy from electric cars to be sold to the grid at peak times for money.
OVO, an independent energy supplier in Britain, claim that all 19,000 Nissan LEAFs that are currently registered in the UK could contribute more than 114MW of power to the National Grid if their owners used such vehicle-to-grid technology. That’s enough to power 300,000 homes, according to OVO. This could enable cars to act as a virtual power station, and around two in five (38%) of UK adults that own or intend to purchase a car in the next 12 months would be more likely to buy an electric vehicle if this was the case.