A survey has found that 61% of drivers say there aren’t enough EV chargers in places where they want to drive.
The research, by Startline Motor Finance for its February Used Car Tracker, also revealed that 36% of drivers thought there was a shortage of chargers where they lived, and 28% said there was a shortage on longer journeys they regularly undertook.
The survey found 23% of respondents said they would not switch to an EV because of poor charger availability.
However, 23% say charger availability close to their home was adequate, and 16% thought there were enough chargers on longer routes they drove.
Startline CEO Paul Burgess said the survey had been carried out in response to research from the National Audit Office suggesting a southern bias to new charger installations.
He said: “Our results support this picture with a majority of people simply not feeling that there are enough public chargers on the routes they regularly cover for them to adopt an electric car.
“This is a problem. Unless people – especially those who live in terraced houses or apartments and don’t have the space for an off-street charger – can see low-cost, easy-access public charging near their home or on the roads they use, they’re unlikely to feel it is viable for them to buy an electric car. A greater number of visible chargers are needed now.”
The research also found that 10% of those surveyed of those surveyed already owned an electric car and experienced few issues with charger availability, while 2% said they did have problems.
Burgess said: “These figures are positive for the electric car market with the results suggesting that most drivers of these vehicles access charging quite easily.
“However, our assumption is that most of these have their chargers installed on their drives, which completely changes the dynamic of electric car ownership.”
