Nearly eight-in-10 drivers (78 per cent) think that pure electric cars are still too expensive when compared to conventional vehicles of a similar size, although a steadily increasing proportion are planning to choose one when they next change their car, research from the latest RAC Report on Motoring shows.
Nine per cent of the 3,000 respondents to the study said they intended to ‘go electric’ next time around, up from six per cent in 2019 and three per cent a year earlier, highlighting drivers’ growing willingness to opt for a zero-emissions model.
But with the current retail price of new pure battery electric vehicles significantly higher than their petrol or diesel-powered equivalents, they remain out of many drivers’ price ranges, prompting most to say they would like more financial help from the government.
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More than half of drivers (53 per cent) said they would like to see VAT on zero-emission vehicles either cut or abolished entirely, with a slightly smaller proportion (48 per cent) favouring a scrappage scheme to make switching from a conventionally powered one to a battery-electric model affordable.
Three-in-ten motorists (30 per cent) favour an increase to the current Plug-in Car Grant (PiCG) of £1,000, taking it up to £4,000, which is arguably the most straightforward policy change the Government could implement if it chose to.
Making vehicles more affordable for drivers is not the only thing that could entice drivers into a pure electric model next time around.
Motorists also want to know they can charge these vehicles up easily when they are away from home, something that will be vital for the estimated third for whom home-charging is not an option.
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More than four-in-ten drivers (43 per cent) say they want the government to set a binding national target for access to public chargepoints, such as ensuring 95 per cent of the population live no further than five miles from the nearest chargepoint.
Three-in-ten (28 per cent) meanwhile believe the price of charging at public chargers should be capped.
The RAC Report on Motoring research also found the extent to which drivers believe the average range of battery-electric vehicles needs to increase before they will choose one over a petrol or diesel model – or rather how drivers’ expectations about the sort of distance they need to be able to go on a single charge might need to change, given that more than half (58 per cent) of car trips are under five miles in length and the average car trip is just 8.4 miles long.
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More broadly, the pandemic appears to have left its mark on the car-buying public, with only one in every 10 motorists (11 per cent) expecting to upgrade to another vehicle in the next 12 months – a sharp fall on the 14 per cent recorded in 2019 and 18 per cent a year earlier.
But perhaps even more telling is the finding that just over half of drivers (51 per cent) do not expect to change their current vehicle within the next three years – well up on the last year’s 43 per cent, and 35 per cent in 2018.
Meanwhile, a third of drivers (33 per cent) in 2020 either don’t plan to get a new car, or do not know when they will replace their current vehicle, up from 25 per cent a year ago.
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