Half of EV drivers also have a spare petrol or diesel car if they want to make longer journeys

The majority of electric car drivers won’t use their battery-powered cars for longer journeys – and half have a petrol or diesel model as a backup for when they need to cover longer distance journeys, a poll has found.

Owners do not feel comfortable relying on their electric car or the charging network when making journeys of more than 100 kilometers, according to the survey among 2,800 EV users by leasing company Zenith.

Less than one in five of the panel of UK-based EV drivers said they use them for longer journeys.

And their decline from having a second car powered by an internal combustion engine “could hold back the EV transition,” the report said.

Official figures show the millionth EV hit UK roads in January, as battery car use continued to rise.

However, purchases of electric cars by private buyers fell by a quarter (25.1%) last month as declining consumer demand continued.

Instead, it is fleet registrations that are underpinning the UK’s EV sales statistics, thanks to low company car tax rates of just 2 percent and the availability of wage sacrifice schemes through employers.

Zenith’s new report shows that 51 percent of those who switched to electric vehicles – now representing more than 500,000 motorists – still have a second vehicle with a petrol or diesel engine under the hood.

The vast majority (73 percent) of those with a two-car garage, consisting of one electric car and one combustion engine car, say they have no plans to get rid of the latter and go all-electric anytime soon.

As such, the leasing company said the UK’s ‘two-car family’ could delay the wider transition to battery vehicles as many look to keep their petrol and diesel engines as backup.

Half of electric car customers told the leasing company that they only use their plug-in cars for short journeys of up to 50 kilometers, while only 18 percent use them for longer journeys – defined by Zenith as journeys of more than 60 kilometers.

A quarter of EV users said they ‘don’t feel confident’ about taking longer journeys in these cars, with the most common reasons being unreliable public charging options (36 percent) and fear of range (34 percent).

In fact, limited range was the biggest concern among EV drivers; a quarter felt that their car’s real-world range is worse than they expected and was promised by ‘official’ figures from the manufacturer, and a similar percentage (24 percent) highlighted that the charging experience did not meet the expectations they had expected.

That said, the research also found that 86 percent of people who have switched to an electric car would not return to exclusively owning petrol or diesel, while the vast majority (86 percent) are confident that the charging infrastructure will improve over the next three years, making it more likely that they will make longer journeys in an electric car in the future.

EV drivers want large SUVs and are moving away from Tesla

Another key finding from Zenith’s research is that large SUVs are becoming increasingly popular among electric car buyers.

Of the respondents’ 26 different models, the Kia e-Niro/Niro EV and Audi E-tron were among the top five most common.

This is likely because these types of vehicles have larger batteries, which in turn means a longer range on a single charge.

The poll also found that while Tesla remains the brand of choice overall, there has been a decline in the number of drivers choosing Tesla vehicles.

This signals a growing willingness among drivers to explore different brands, reflecting the growing range of electric vehicle options available.

Tim Buchan, CEO of Zenith, said: ‘Since our first EVX report in February 2023, we have seen the 2030 deadline pushed back by five years, ultra-fast highway charging targets missed and misinformation on the rise. is about driving electric vehicles. experience.

‘It is not surprising that the latest generation of EV drivers comes to the EV world with less confidence than the first generation of adopters.

‘It’s clear from our research that there is still a fear of traveling longer distances, so while it’s great to see so many drivers starting their EV journey with larger SUV models, typically ‘family cars’, there remains there is a reluctance to become an all-electric household.

‘We know that electric cars are the future of mobility, so we hope to see more work done to provide certainty, starting with the Government’s reaffirmation of its commitment to net zero with measures that support motorists to achieve the transition, and additional investments in our charging infrastructure, so it has the opportunity to respond to consumer needs.”