Key Findings
Altogether, this has been another positive year for the EV sector. Impressive progress on the national public charging network is clearly having a positive impact on consumer confidence.
Our survey provides reassurance that top-down policy implementations do have an impact on the driver experience. However, drivers without access to off-street parking remain a notable outlier. Because they are more reliant on public charging, they are more exposed to higher charging costs and, as a result, statistically less confident in the overall EV experience. Policy input is needed to grant this growing proportion of drivers the ‘right to charge’ privately and more affordable public charging.
Our survey respondents have enabled us to identify some of these current pressure points, which our report delves into as well as some of the key solutions to hand.
1. Combatting misinformation: Growing demand and overwhelmingly high satisfaction rates are unimpacted by EV misinformation campaigns.
2. Diversifying demand: EV drivers are more representative of the average consumer. Lower EV costs are attracting a wider section of the market. Tax-saving incentives have proven an especially popular driver of growth, whilst more drivers are looking towards second-hand, a sign of a healthy, maturing market.
3. Charging is improving: Drivers have noticed marked improvements in the charging network in the past year, suggesting ‘charging anxiety’ is now of minimal concern.
4. Charging divide: Public charging costs do remain a concern, however, to which drivers without off-street parking and easy means of charging privately are especially vulnerable. Drivers in this category are less confident in the EV experience.
5. More drivers need the ‘Right to charge’: Drivers without off-street parking and with no easy access to a home-charger are too reliant on public charging. ‘Home’ and ‘destination’ charging solutions are a necessary part of the mix but not sufficiently incentivized. A strong majority of drivers backed EVA England’s proposed policy implementations granting more drivers the ‘right to charge’.
What we need to see next:
- Avoiding a slump in demand:
The market is showing strong signs of growth, but misinformation and cost considerations (the rising cost of insurance, for example), means continued input on the sector is needed. Low-cost, targeted schemes would help reach sections of the population that have not considered EVs so far, whilst employer-led tax and leasing incentives should continue as an important driver of the sector.
- Reinforcing public charging:
Increased access to public charging, at fair costs, is now key considering the strides on the demand side. Regulatory barriers are currently holding the sector back from the pools of private funds waiting to be invested in the public charging network.
- Democratising private charging:
EVs uniquely differ from petrol in offering an exciting, wide range of solutions to ‘filling up’. As we see more drivers without off-street parking making the switch, more attention is needed on ‘home’ and ‘destination’ charging as a key solution to avoiding pressure on the public network and keeping charging fair.
Read the full report