New car buyers in the United Kingdom are willing to switch to electric vehicles as long as it is affordable.
Most U.K. residents had a lot of issues with switching from traditional to electric vehicles.
They have voiced concerns about charging, range, long-term battery capacity, and other factors. But now, the drivers have changed their minds about switching.
U.K. Buyers Willing to Go Electric
In 2011, Driving Away From Fossil Fuels reported that less than 1% of the car buyers in the U.K. said that they would consider buying an electric car even if it was at an affordable price. In 2015, the number went up to 2%.
In 2022, it was reported that 100% of new car buyers in the U.K., or around 2,000 participants, have said that they would choose an electric vehicle over a traditional one if they were at an affordable price.
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The data was commissioned by the E.V. campaign group FairChange, and they looked at the drivers' preferences by comparing the electric and traditional car attributes, including their specifications and costs, according to Electrek.
The report also showed that the buyers would opt for an electric vehicle despite 81% of them admitting that they are relying on on-street parking, which makes overnight charging of E.V.s challenging.
Also, the survey found that the deployment of public charging infrastructure will not affect the consumer demand for electric vehicles.
This is because the majority of the new car buyers that were surveyed had said that they have access to off-street parking.
The discovery that finding a charging infrastructure will not affect the demand for new E.V.s cuts against claims made by some manufacturers that the government must not ban petrol and diesel vehicles in 2030 because there is a lack of public charging infrastructure to accommodate all E.V. vehicles.
Supporters of electric vehicles in the U.K. want to use the report to show the government that the switch to E.V.s from traditional cars may happen faster than expected and that they need to prepare the infrastructure for it.
Campaign for Better E.V. Infrastructure
The E.V. spokesperson for the RAC, Simon Williams, has called on the U.K. government to make accessibility to electric vehicles better.
According to Express.Co, Williams said that the RAC research shows that the high costs of E.V.s continues to be a major factor in uptake, so they find it encouraging to know that car buyer would want to go electric without any hesitation if they are as affordable as a traditional car.
Williams added that the government "has been bold in setting the 2030 date for the end of the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans," but they also need to focus on bringing new E.V.s down in price, so they are accessible to all U.K. residents.
Williams believes the early removal of the plug-in car grant in early 2022 was a mistake. He said that even though the grant had been reduced, it had helped encourage car manufacturers to produce more E.V.s at a lower price point.
Without the plug-in car grant for E.V.s, there is less incentive for car manufacturers to concentrate on this end of the market, which will affect drivers who really want to go electric but can't afford it.
Both RAC and FairChange have called on the U.K. government to abolish the VAT differential between public E.V. charging and home charging. A 20% rate of VAT is charged on public chargers, compared to only 5% on home chargers.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Sophie Webster
