Consumers ‘close to favouring electric vehicles’

So says the transport innovation consultant TRL, announcing the results of its latest research, the Consumers, Vehicles and Energy Integration (CVEI) project, completed for the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI).

Another conclusion is that half of mainstream consumers would consider a BEV as a main car if its range increased to 200 miles; increasing to 90% of mainstream consumers if the range was 300 miles. On vehicle charging, the research says that mainstream consumer adoption of BEVs can be encouraged through provision of rapid charging infrastructure every 20 miles on motorways and A-roads. Providing rapid chargers with 150 kW charging rates is also likely to increase adoption.

The results reveal the ‘tipping points’ for when mainstream consumers will be likely to adopt both fully electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, says TRL. The pace of change will ultimately be dictated by consumer demand.

Dr George Beard, TRL’s Head of ULEV Consumer Research explained: ‘We provided 447 mainstream consumers with real-world experience of using both BEVs and PHEVs for their day-to-day journey needs. By providing this real-world experience, we were able to gather more representative views of mainstream consumers about the extent to which electric vehicles serve their needs.’

Across the trials, data on consumers’ attitudes, perceptions and choices were gathered from surveys, and information was gathered from vehicles and charge points for 584,000 miles of journeys and 15,700 charge events, covering both home and public locations.

The CVEI project was commissioned by the Energy Technologies Institute and led by TRL; other project partners were Baringa, Element Energy, Cenex, EV Connect, The Behavioural Insights Team, EDF Energy and Shell.