For this year’s World EV Day, organisers wanted to ask the question, ‘How do we engage the next cohort of consumers?’ A collaboration between LeasePlan, Auto Trader, LV= General Insurance and ElectriX, Shell Recharge, Connected Kerb, Ohme, Fastned, EVA England and Cenex engaged global research firm Ipsos to conduct UK-wide research to better understand how to encourage people to make the transition to an EV.
The research was then taken into a quantitative analysis. The results of this form the basis of a White Paper.
From the study, the results were encouraging and positive. Research showed that over 64% of people interviewed who are intending to buy a car would consider an EV. However, 53% of respondents interviewed say switching to an EV is a confusing process, and some familiar concerns remain around the perceived purchase and running costs of an EV, the reliability of range information and charging infrastructure, and the ways these are presented.
A spokesperson added: “Moving forward, how do we engage the next cohort of EV drivers? Our research shows that while the perceptions of EVs are changing for the better, there is still some work to be done. But three key words came out of the research. Affordable, simple, intuitive. EVs need to become more affordable, especially when it comes to perceived costs, and the language around the vehicles and the charging infrastructure needs to be simpler, to give EV considerers more confidence.
“Finally, EVs and their infrastructure need fewer roadblocks in the user experience to make them more intuitive.”