A new survey found that only 5 percent of electric vehicle (EV) drivers would ever go back to a conventional car, says the audience of the “Fully Charged” YouTube channel, in the Clean Energy & Electric Vehicle survey conducted by the channel.
In what is said to be the U.K.’s largest-ever survey of EV drivers and Cleantech enthusiasts (7,723 respondents), the survey has found that around nine out of 10 plug-in car drivers would never go back to gas or diesel.
After eight years and 380 episodes, Robert Llewellyn, host of “Fully Charged” – the world’s No.1 clean energy and electric vehicle channel – has received more than 7,700 responses to its first audience survey. The 50-question study illuminated consumer attitudes to the array of technologies that are set to dominate the next decade.
“I have been banging on about electric cars, solar panels and batteries for the best part of 10 years, so it’s incredibly gratifying to see the excitement that our viewers have for all things cleantech,” said Llewellyn. “Having experienced how impressive electric cars are, we were not surprised to see so many other drivers saying that they won’t go back to the combustion engine, but it might shock those that have yet to switch. Perhaps more surprising was that two-thirds of our audience who are yet to buy an EV intend to do so in the next two years.”
According to the survey, 56.89 percent of the Fully Charged audience do not yet own an EV but intend to acquire one by the end of 2020, with three-quarters planning to purchase a pure battery electric vehicle (BEV), as opposed to a plug-in hybrid (PHEV). This, combined with the fact that “the shift to electric vehicles” means that 87.67 percent of respondents could “choose a different brand to those that they have historically preferred,” might cause concern among those car companies that are yet to offer a credible lineup of all-electric models.
According to the survey, the principal issue that has held consumers back from buying an EV to date is neither the lack of attractive, available options nor the lack of charging infrastructure. Rather, it’s the perceived cost of new (33 percent) and used (14.9 percent) electric vehicles. This is in spite of the fact that, as a result of their much lower running costs, EVs are increasingly competitive over the total cost of ownership (TCO).
While the Fully Charged audience typically has a high proportion of “early-adopters” with an almost equal interest in EVs (88.67 percent) and clean energy/renewables (88.61 percent), the survey shows that they are more interested in new technology itself than the problems those technologies might mitigate against, such as air pollution (39.83 percent) and climate change (44.39 percent). Attitudes to home energy reveal that of those considering a new energy supplier, 68.91 percent intend to switch to a “green energy” supplier and 83.74 percent are interested in “new energy technologies,” not the least of which is solar PV, batteries, smart controls, heat pumps and vehicle-to-grid.
“We’ve always maintained that simply because they are better technologies, electric vehicles and renewables will become mainstream,” said Llewellyn. “And this is borne out by our survey. It’s the cars in particular that are starting to turn heads, and having driven all of them from the Tesla Model 3 to VW’s hotly-anticipated I.D., I can honestly say that there’s a really cool choice of electric cars for almost every budget. At Fully Charged, we’re working hard to help consumers understand how easy it is to live with Electric Vehicles and how the experience is even better if you can power them with Clean Energy.”
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