Electric car buyers’ biggest frustrations revealed

ELECTRIC car buyers’ biggest frustration has been revealed as high living costs hit customer confidence.

Research has found that less than a fifth of electric vehicle buyers would be comfortable owning an EV if they solely had to rely on the UK’s public charging network.

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What Car?’s research of 1207 in-market buyers, of which 156 (12.9%) were in the market for a fully electric vehicle (EV), found 93.6% of EV buyers will be able to charge their car at home overnight – with 84.3% already owning or looking to install a wallbox charger.

And when asked if they would be comfortable owning an electric car if they could only use public chargers to recharge it, only 17.7% of electric vehicle buyers said yes.

This is a drop from August 2022, when the consumer motoring champion asked the same question from 265 EV buyers, with 25.3% stating they would be comfortable owning an EV even if they could only use public chargers to cover recharging. 

And the drop suggests a declining confidence in the country’s public charging infrastructure, potentially due to the ongoing energy and cost of living crisis, which has seen tariffs rise for users. 

In the latest study, they also asked the 1051 in-market buyers not in the market for an electric car what their reasons were for not considering one.

And nearly half (47.2%) cited EVs as being too expensive for their consideration, while 41.6% said the public charging network isn’t good enough for their needs.

A lack of home charging possibility was quoted by 23.5%, while poor vehicle range was highlighted by 15.9%.

According to the Department for Transport, as of January 2023, there were 37,055 public electric vehicle charging stations installed in the UK, of which 6887 are classed as ‘rapid’ with speeds in excess of 25kW. 

Steve Huntingford, editor of What Car?, said: “The lack of adequate charging infrastructure is still cited as one of the key reasons buyers do not make the switch.

“Though the rate of chargers is growing, with further investment only recently announced, more needs to be done to support the buyers looking to make the switch, especially with the 2030 and 2035 targets looming.

“This week’s Spring Budget will likely cover a lot of ground, but support for electric vehicle buyers and manufacturers, as well as the UK’s charging infrastructure, shouldn’t be left out.”