A significant ‘on-ramp divide’ has emerged among Britain’s electric car owners, with the vast majority relying on home chargers installed in their properties as a primary energy source.
Nearly seven in ten (69 percent) electric vehicle (EV) owners surveyed say they usually charge their cars at home. In contrast, only 14 percent use the public charging network as the main source of electricity for their vehicles, which is twice as expensive.
The report highlights the substantial cost and practical benefits for those living in homes with on-site parking, which in turn makes electric vehicles less attractive to people living in flats or houses without garages and driveways. And it also contributes to the recent slowdown in electric car adoption.
Just 14% of EV drivers use expensive public charging points as their main source of energy, while 69% mainly use their cheaper home chargers, a new report shows. This means that people without on-street parking are at a major disadvantage when switching to electric cars
The remaining 17 percent of EV owners surveyed said they use a combination of both home and public charging, or charge their car at their workplace.
However, a survey of nearly 2,800 of the company’s customers found that more than half (52 percent) of EV drivers would face significant problems if they were forced to rely solely on public charging.
Charging provider Cord recently highlighted the difference between a month’s worth of charging at public chargers and charging at home, unfairly hitting those who can’t charge at home with much higher charges.
While home charging during off-peak times could cost as little as £17, the monthly cost of home charging during peak times was £56.
Those using the public charging network can expect to pay £109 per month when using different devices.
The price difference becomes even greater if they connect exclusively to fast chargers. In this case, they can expect their monthly charging costs to rise to £155, which is almost three times the cost of using a home charger.
The cost of charging an EV at home – even during peak hours – is about half the price of using the public network
More than half (52%) of electric car owners would experience significant problems if they relied solely on the public charging network
The charger cord recently highlighted the difference between a month’s worth of charging at public chargers and charging at home, with those unable to charge at home unfairly hit with much higher charges.
The research also found that EV drivers have become less satisfied with their car’s range in the twelve months since the publication of the first EVX report (EVXperience) last year (7.7/10 to 6.7/10) and the experience of charging, decreasing from 8.1/10 to 7.4/10.
The report comes a week after the Chancellor failed to take action to reduce the financial burden of owning an electric car without on-street parking.
Calls to cut VAT on public charges from 20 to 5 percent to bring them in line with home charging in his spring budget were ignored, as were requests for a fresh boost in EV incentives to boost public demand.
The car industry condemned the government’s lack of EV policy in the budget, saying it had “missed a huge opportunity” to boost ailing electric car sales.
Official figures show that sales of electric vehicles to regular drivers fell by almost a fifth in the first two months of 2024.
Of the nearly 40,000 new electric cars registered in January and February, only 6,500 were purchased by private individuals. The rest was snapped up by fleet leasing companies as a result of lucrative tax breaks, including the wage sacrifice scheme.
Declining public interest in electric cars is now starting to cause concern, especially when it comes to Britain being on track to meet its Net Zero targets.
The good news, however, is that despite these concerns, EV drivers have told Zenith that they remain optimistic about the future of electric vehicle adoption in Britain.
The government wants to have 300,000 public charging points across Britain by 2030. Data from Zapmap suggests this goal is achievable
More than four-fifths (82 percent) say they expect the charging infrastructure to improve over the next three years.
The government aims to have 300,000 public charging points across Britain by 2030. Data from Zapmap shows that this goal is achievable.
It predicts the 100,000th charger will be installed by August 2025, with snowballing growth from then on.
Both Zenith data and charging location provider Zapmap predict that ‘range anxiety’ could become a thing of the past as the size and quality of the charging network grows.
Tim Buchan, CEO of Zenith, said: ‘The number of battery EVs on the road has increased rapidly, so it’s no surprise that building a public charging network to support this would be a huge undertaking.
‘Progress is being made: the number of charging points will grow by 46 percent in January 2024 compared to last year, and several new innovations are on the way, such as converting green BT boxes into charging hubs.’
Like other experts, Zenith calls on the government to do more to facilitate the switch to electricity.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) wants the government to abolish VED rates along with lower VAT on sales of new EVs and reduced VAT on the public charging network to make EVs more attractive to new buyers.
Without these tax incentives, manufacturers will find it difficult to meet the required targets of the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate as private buyers will not want to switch to an electric car.
Failure to meet the ZEV threshold – which starts at a 22 per cent share of all sales in 2024 and rises to 80 per cent by 2030 – will result in fines of £15,000 for manufacturers per vehicle below the target.
Electric future: The ZEV mandate will force automakers to sell an increasing number of electric vehicles between now and 2035
In response to the lack of EV incentives in the spring budget, Fiat UK said: ‘We are sleepwalking into an electric vehicle crisis’
Following the disappointing lack of EV incentives in the Budget, SMMT CEO Mike Hawes said: ‘Reducing VAT on new EVs, reviewing vehicle tax to encourage rather than punish electric driving, and putting an end to to the VAT ‘paving fine’ on public vehicles. charging would have boosted the market.
‘With both government and industry regulatory requirements to achieve net zero, even more needs to be done to help consumers make the switch.’
Bucham reiterates this: ‘There is a serious risk that the EV transition will be delayed if the deteriorating public perception of the network is not addressed.
‘To achieve that we need the Government to equalize VAT on public charging, an opportunity missed in last week’s Budget, and to increase capacity by speeding up network connections for charging point providers.’
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