Don’t feel guilty if you’re not yet ready to save the planet by ditching your petrol or diesel vehicle. You’re not alone. Two new reports show that, even in countries where electric vehicles (EVs) are increasing their market share, vast swathes of the population are still unconvinced of their claimed superiority.
Sure, they say, they are environmentally friendlier than vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE), but is that a good enough reason to drive off with them into the unknown?
S&P Global Mobility says a consumer survey in eight of the world’s biggest vehicle markets shows growing scepticism towards EVs. In 2021, 86% of respondents in the US, China, Brazil, Germany, the UK, India, Japan and South Korea said they would consider buying an all-electric vehicle, while 93% were open to the idea of a hybrid-electric one with dual ICE and electric motors. Two years later, all-electric approval has slumped to 67% and hybrid to 72%.
S&P senior analyst Yanina Mills wonders if consumers feel the EV revolution is being forced upon them. “They may be asking if this push for electrification is really justified.”
Some governments are wondering the same thing. They include the EU, which, having planned to outlaw the sale of new ICE vehicles after 2035, has opened the door to an extension. The UK, with a 2030 deadline, may follow suit.
S&P says EV prices remain the biggest turn-off for its respondents. While the gap is narrowing, most EVs cost considerably more to buy than their ICE equivalents. Long-term ownership costs may be favourable, through cheaper power and after-sales service, but, in a time of global economic hardship, it’s the upfront price that counts for many people.
Range anxiety — the fear that your EV will run out of power and leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere (emergency jerrycans full of spare electricity are hard to come by) — appears to be a diminishing factor among S&P respondents.
Most people who think there’s not enough charging infrastructure have never driven an EV. They don’t know because they’ve never looked
— Yanina Mills
But not, apparently, among those who took part in a worldwide survey by Parkopedia, a global parking service provider whose onboard information is used by many of the world’s major motor companies as well as navigation specialists like Garmin and TomTom.
It says there is still considerable range anxiety among motorists. Only 9% say they are not worried at all. It’s not an unfounded fear. The Parkopedia study says: “Two-thirds of [responding] EV drivers have run out of charge at least once, with 73% of American EV drivers having run flat. Even more concerning, 22% have run out of charge more than once.”
More than 20% of drivers find it difficult to find EV charging points when they are away from home.
Mills notes that some all-electric EVs can go further on a single charge than an ICE on a full tank of petrol. The difference is that, when it’s time to recharge or refill, ICE drivers have a multitude of service stations to choose from and don’t have to hang around, twiddling their thumbs, waiting to get going again. They can be gone in under five minutes.
The S&P survey shows that 10% of consumers want their EVs to be charged within 10 minutes, 27% within 30 minutes and 28% within one hour. That’s assuming they can find a charging station. There remains a strong view in many countries that there aren’t enough to service the growing EV population.
Parkopedia’s study of US, Japanese and European trends finds that even among EV-friendly drivers, most are worried about the availability of public charging. In Japan, where hybrids, with dual ICE and electric motors, are notably popular, motorists think public charging is inadequate, takes too long and is too expensive.
Across all countries, 52% of respondents say the lack of charging infrastructure will definitely stop them buying a full-electric EV. In Japan, the figure is 67%.
These doubts will be familiar to motorists in South Africa, where EVs, both all-electric and hybrid, are finding it hard to gain market traction. Research shows there is growing consumer appetite to buy them, but actual sales are proving hard to come by.
Without the buyer incentives that other countries have offered to kick-start EV sales (and indeed any government urgency to get things going), prices remain a huge barrier to purchase.
Despite the apparent global downturn in confidence — some consumers are also worried about EV safety and reliability — Mills thinks many negative attitudes are born of ignorance.
For example, “most people who think there’s not enough charging infrastructure have never driven an EV. They don’t know because they’ve never looked.”
The trouble, she adds, is that motorists have to change their habits, which not all are prepared to do. Even so, she thinks consumers “are beginning to see and understand the trade-offs associated with EVs and hybrids. Realities are coming together. People are starting to understand how [driving an EV] will affect their daily lives.”
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